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ICASM RENEWS ITS OPPOSITION TO THE HAGUE CONFERENCE WORK ON SURROGACY 13 November 2021
RALLIES IN BRUSSELS AND BILBAO TO PROTEST AGAINST CHILD SELLING SALONS 5 November 2021
The evidence is clear: surrogacy is nothing but the sale of children and reproductive exploitation of women 7 September 2021
Charter for the abolition of surrogate motherhood
Substitute motherhood, or surrogacy, which is practised in several countries, is the loaning of women’s bodies in order to give birth to children who will be handed over to those who ordered them. Far from being just an individual act, this social practise is orchestrated by human reproduction companies, in an organized production system involving laboratories, doctors, lawyers, agencies etc. This system needs women as means of production, so that pregnancy and childbirth become a functional process that has a use value and a commercial value and is part of the globalization of human body markets.
In countries where no law protects them, women’s bodies are turned into resources for the reproduction industry. Some women consent to enter into a contract which will alienate their health, their lives and their selves, under multiple pressures, family or gender based, economic, or geopolitical.
In the 21st century, while the situation of women around the world is improving in some respects, it is also experiencing many obstacles and even setbacks. Despite United Nations declarations and the commitment of some States to gender equality, inequalities remain persistent. Political and legislative measures have not succeeded in undermining these structural inequalities, which are still nourished by sexist norms and representations present in all societies, in all social categories, in all communities. Many harmful practices are still used against women and girls, aimed at controlling their bodies and their lives, in order to maintain women in social, economic and political positions of inferiority, and to exploit their reproductive capacity and work.
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