After the passage of the Italian law declaring surrogacy a “universal offence” for those seeking it abroad, it’s crucial to examine an often-overlooked aspect of this issue: who is behind the organization and promotion of surrogacy outside Italy? It is widely acknowledged, including during recent parliamentary debates, that we are facing a globalized production […]
Maternal milk, along with surrogacy and egg harvesting, a new field of exploitation of women
Context: Maternal milk is increasingly recognised as important for the wellbeing of infants Let’s be careful on the vocabulary The researchers, the scientist,s the industry use terms like “human milk, “lactating bodies “avoiding to specify that this milk is exclusively produced by women Therefore we will prefer using maternal milk ou mother’s milk. The WHO […]
Ireland. June 2024. The surrogacy Bill passed
Empty Chambers, Full Force: Surrogacy Bill Passes Under Irish Radar Press release 20 june 2024 We, the International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood (ICASM), as feminist defenders of women’s, children’s, and human rights, consider that the Irish Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, as voted, is incompatible with European ideals of human dignity and the […]
Fact sheet: Surrogacy and violence against women
06/11/2024 Defining surrogacy: a social practice, not a medical technique To better understand surrogacy, it’s important to distinguish it as a social practice and not a medical technique. Surrogacy is the practice of recruiting, with or without payment, a woman to carry one or more children, whether or not conceived with her own eggs, with […]
Any form of surrogacy is incompatible with international legal instruments.
This article explains how surrogacy violates all the international treaties and the very concepts of universal human right DIGNITY The “Charter of the United Nations”[1] reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women. The “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”[2] […]
YES, from a feminist perspective, reproductive surrogacy is human trafficking
Press Release Revision of the European Directive on the Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings 30 April 2024 The Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, and protecting victims is a necessary and useful text, but it is not enough. Important additions […]
Exploitation Unveiled: ICASM and Allies challenge HCCH’s Global Surrogacy Project
Press Release – 15 11 2023 On Monday 13 November 2023, ICASM (International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogacy) organised a rally in front of the headquarters of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Organisations from Japan, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain took part […]
Abolish the sale of children and reproductive exploitation of women
Press release On 13 November, the International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogacy (ICASM) is organising a rally in front of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) to oppose its work to regulate cross-border surrogate motherhood. From 13 November 2023, the HCCH will set up a working group with the task of drafting […]
Regulating surrogacy would mean recognising the right of everyone to use women as surrogate mothers
Ana-Luana Stoicea-Deram Feminist activist and President of the Collective for the Respect of the Person Article updated in 2023 In March 2023, the Hague Conference appointed a new group of experts on parentage and . Based on the principle that ” agreements date back to biblical times” (2012 Report), the Conference aims to achieve transnational […]
Fact sheet: How is surrogacy a social and economic practice?
Considered by some as a medical breakthrough and interpreted as an assisted reproduction technique, this view hides a social practice that must be assessed in terms of human rights. It is a mistake to consider it as a medical technique to assist reproduction. Surrogacy is a social and commercial practice based on a medical […]