Ireland’s proposed surrogacy legislation will “devalue the importance of mothers and fathers in the lives of children” a family advocacy group has warned.

Reacting to news that the Irish government is currently working on draft legislation towards regulating surrogacy, while banning commercial surrogacy outright, the Mothers and Fathers Matter group stated that, if implemented, the proposed legislation will in fact “violate the rights of both women and children”.

“Minister Varadkar’s proposals would mean that one man or two men could use a surrogate mother to have a child. That child would then be deliberately raised without a mother. This violates the rights of the child,” a statement from the group said. “With respect to surrogacy itself, the practice, whether commercial or non-commercial is almost inherently exploitative of women. The so-called ‘non-commercial’ variety in countries such as Britain still involves ‘reasonable expenses’ which amount to in the region of £15,000.

“It is almost invariably poorer women who allow better off ‘commissioning adults’ to make use of their wombs. The potential for exploitation in this should be immediately clear.”

Adding that a baby resulting from surrogacy is “made the object of a contract”, Mothers and Fathers matter pointed out that “as a result of inherent problems like these, countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Austria ban surrogacy in all its forms”.

Commenting on the Minister’s proposals, Kate Bopp of Mothers and Fathers Matter said that “given the many and insurmountable problems found in the practice of surrogacy, Ireland should follow the example of France, Germany, Italy etc. and simply prohibit surrogacy completely. We should also support the suggestion of French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, that there should be an international treaty seeking to prevent countries like India allowing people from countries where surrogacy is banned to circumvent the laws of their own country.”

She added: “We have to ask why Minister Varadkar believes the supposed right of one man or two men to use a surrogate mother to have a baby on their behalf trumps the right of that child to be raised by a mother and a father. Minister Varadkar told the Dail in 2010 that he believes a child has a right to a mother and father where possible. Why does he no longer believe this?”