‘Regulating’ surrogacy leads to its acceptance while ignoring the exploitation inherent in the practice, according to the Italian Minister for Family. Ireland is on the point of legalising surrogacy.
Speaking at an event in Geneva on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council, Eugenia Roccella said the “tendency to regulate surrogacy” paves “the way for a substantial acceptance” but “does not address all the ethical questions” and the forms “of exploitation created by the new market in bodies”.
The Minister noted the disparity in legal and ethical treatment: selling a newborn after birth “is a crime” but arranging surrogacy before conception “is legal in many countries”.
Italy is the first European country to consider a bill to ban surrogacy across its entire territory and classify it as a universal offense.
Another participant, Olivia Maurel, who was born through surrogacy said that she was “ordered, fabricated, custom-made, sold and bought”.
The human rights activist also stated that in surrogacy “there is always money involved” and “there is no ethical ways of selling children, there is no ethical way to rent a woman’s body”. Therefore, it is necessary to ban all kinds of surrogacy at an international level.
