Charter for the abolition of surrogate motherhood
Surrogate 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.
Substitute motherhood makes the child a product with an exchange value, so that the distinction between a person and a thing is cancelled out. But respect for the human body and gender equality should prevail over individual interests.
Therefore, in the name of human rights, We, the signatories of the Charter:
- Denounce the utilisation of human beings whose intrinsic value and dignity are done away with in favour of their use value and exchange value
- Refuse the merchandizing of women’s and children’s bodies
- Call countries to respect the international conventions for the protection of human rights that they have ratified and oppose firmly any form of legalization of surrogate motherhood at a national or international level
In the name of the equal dignity of all human beings, we also call on them to act firmly to abolish the practise of surrogacy at an international level, in particular by promoting the elaboration, adoption and effective implementation of an international convention for the abolition of surrogate motherhood