Dear Minister Carroll MacNeill,
As an international Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood, we have been in contact with you
via the submission of our coalition in the Committee on surrogacy in May 2022. We are now pleased about
the direction being taken by Ireland on this matter, especially in light of the Health (Assisted Human
Reproduction) Bill 2022, which we understand is currently on hold.
Most European countries are banning surrogacy for human dignity reasons. Human dignity – the dignity of
men, women, and children – is a core value in Europe. The European Parliament has condemned surrogacy[1],
stating that:
“Condemns the practice of surrogacy, which can expose women around the world to exploitation, in particular
those who are poorer and are in situations of vulnerability, such as in the context of war; asks the EU and its
Member States to pay particular attention to the protection of surrogate mothers during pregnancy, childbirth
and puerperium and to respect all of their rights, as well as those of the new-born;
Underlines the serious impact of surrogacy on women, their rights and their health, the negative consequences
for gender equality and the challenges stemming from the cross-border implications of this practice, as has
been the case for the women and children affected by the war against Ukraine; asks the EU and its Member
States to investigate the dimensions of this industry, the socio-economic context and the situation of pregnant
women, as well as the consequences for their physical and mental health and for the well-being of babies; calls
for the introduction of binding measures to address surrogacy, protecting women’s and new-born’ rights.”
All surrogacy is commercial surrogacy.
In countries where women’s rights are implemented and protected, women don’t tend to engage into
surrogacy. Note that the Bill only restricts the money given to the surrogate mothers, never the fees and
payments, to other actors who are working on a commercial basis (counsellors, lawyers, clinics psychologists).
The surrogacy process is then handled in a commercial manner. The restrictions on payment to the surrogate
are only meant to pretend that there is such a thing as altruistic surrogacy and are mainly intended to ease the
consciences of the commissioning people, so called “intending parents”.
Here is the example of Canada:
Extract from the article ‘Une particularité à défendre : le cas du Québec’ by Ghislaine Gendron and Michèle Sirois
(Canada) in ‘Ventres à louer Une critique féministe de la GPA’ coordinated by Ana-Luana Stoicea-Deram and
Marie-Josèphe Devillers. L’Echappée 2022
In fact, the surrogacy industry is booming in Canada, particularly in Ontario, and is even recruiting ‘clients’ internationally.
Leia Swanberg, who founded Canadian Fertility Consulting around ten years ago, was fined $60,000 in 2014 for paying
surrogate mothers. This was the only time the penalties set out in the law were imposed. […].
Since his conviction, his business has gone from strength to strength. “At the time, I had 4 employees. Today, I have 38,’ she
says. In 2017, her company used 300 surrogate mothers. A year later, it had 500.
The fact that ‘the laws of the Canadian Criminal Code do not apply to extraterritorial activities, so as long as the payments are
made outside Canada, it can be argued that no Canadian law has been violated is not unrelated to this remarkable ‘surge of
altruism’ on the part of surrogate mothers. There is nothing to prevent foreign commissioning parents who use Canadian surrogate
mothers from offering them remuneration if the financial transaction takes place abroad. According to University of Manitoba
law professor Karen Busby, these surrogate mothers would be legally entitled to accept this money. As a result, in 2016 and 2017
in the province of British Columbia, more than 40% of Canadian surrogacy was carried out by foreign commissioning parents.
Whether commercial or so-called “altruistic”:
Donor-conceived and surrogacy pregnancies are higher-risk and are much more dangerous than naturally
conceived pregnancies and should be considered a form of violence against women. Surrogacy causes violence
in at least four thematic fields: medical, psychological, legal, and economic, in which personal, situational and
socio-cultural aspects are intertwined.
The fact that a healthy woman with no desire for a child receives powerful hormonal treatment to get pregnant
is in itself medical obstetric violence, insofar as these treatments can have, and often do have, harmful short-
and medium-term consequences for the woman’s health. Before and during pregnancy, the woman also
undergoes intrusive obstetrical procedures (ultrasound scans, repeated checks), some of which may not be
medically justified, but simply required by the commissioning parents. Several medical studies show the
consequences of surrogacy on women’s health.
A study[2] analysing the practice of surrogacy in the Netherlands over a period of ten years shows that the
health risks for surrogate mothers are much higher than for ordinary pregnancies: 20.6% of surrogate mothers
suffered from hypertension (in France, for ordinary pregnancies, this risk is on average 10%); higher risk of
pre-eclampsia due to IVF procedure; haemorrhage at delivery occurred in 23.5% of cases (this rate is 5% to
10% in developed countries); delivery was induced in 52.9% of situations (the World Health Organisation
recommends not to exceed, in general, 10%).
An American study analysing pregnancy and delivery data of 124 American women, comparing their ordinary
pregnancies with those they carried in surrogacy (almost 500 in total), shows that surrogacy deliveries have more obstetric complications (gestational diabetes, hypertension, placenta previa) and require more recourse
to amniocentesis, as well as antibiotics during labour and caesarean section.
Psychological abuse due to anxiety or depression can also be identified. Psychological distress appears both
in the personal accounts of mothers and in studies.
The economic dimension of surrogacy is indisputable. In so-called altruistic surrogacy, the only person who
does not receive financial reward is the surrogate mother, but the overall organisation of the practice remains
commercial. Altruistic surrogacy remains transactional, as ‘expenses’ include a range of living costs and thus
surrogacy appeals to women who are struggling financially.
In order to become surrogate mothers, women are being trafficked as defined by the Palermo
Protocol.
According to the Palermo Protocol adopted in 2000, trafficking is based on three conditions: an action,
several means and a purpose
1- An Action. Surrogate mothers are recruited by the industry under very strict criteria.
2- Means. The recruitment of a surrogate mother is based on a triple deception: that the child is not
being sold, That the surrogate mother is not the mother, that the child she is giving birth to is not her
own. How can anyone claim that she is not the mother of a child, for one cell out of more than 15
billion cells of which the baby will be made up.
3- The purpose is exploitation. Exploitation occurs whenever a woman gives birth to a child, not for
her own parental project, but for the project of a third party which is the case with surrogacy
In conclusion, we can claim that surrogacy is tantamount to human trafficking. Recently the European
Parliament has just included surrogacy to its revised directive on trafficking, along with illegal adoption and
forced marriage as offences of trafficking in human beings to the extent that all the criteria constituting these
offences are fulfilled.
About the paused bill “Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 “ :
The process of surrogacy, as described in the bill, starts with the “approval of the surrogacy agreement” before
the so-called treatment. It means that the future child is disposed of, before it is born, a situation that is
constitutive of the sale of children
The “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child pornography” [7] provides in Article 2 that the sale of a child is defined as “any act or transaction
whereby a child s transferred by one person or group of persons to another person or group of persons for
payment or other consideration”.
According to the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect
of Intercountry Adoption, surrogacy is equivalent to the sale of children as the consent of the surrogate
mother has been given before the birth of the child and even before its conception (Art. 4 c) (4)) and this
consent has been induced by payment or compensation of any kind (Art. 4 c) (3)).
● Surrogacy will inevitably be linked to the reproductive exploitation of women either as egg providers
or as surrogate mothers, as it already happens worldwide.
● Surrogacy is a form of sexual and reproductive violence against women, which entails a tremendous
inequality, as it affects them not only disproportionately, but exclusively.
● Surrogacy crosses ethical boundaries, objectifying women and children and violating human rights. A
womb cannot be separated from a body, the whole woman and her entire body are involved in
surrogacy. From the biological and genetic perspective, motherhood is not substitutable.
In France, surrogacy is strictly prohibited by Article 16-7 of the Civil Code, which declares null and void any
agreement involving procreation or gestation on behalf of others. This legal stance is based on key principles
of French law: the inalienability of the human body, the non-commercialization of the human person,
and the protection of human dignity. The French Constitutional Council and the Court of Cassation have
reaffirmed that allowing surrogacy would commodify both women and children, violating their dignity and
turning motherhood and filiation into objects of contract and commerce. Even so-called altruistic surrogacy
is deemed incompatible with these fundamental values, as it involves instrumentalizing a woman’s body
and reproductive function.
Similarly, Spain prohibits all forms of surrogacy under Article 10 of Law 14/2006 on Assisted Reproduction
Techniques, declaring any surrogacy contract void regardless of its nature. This ban is rooted in the
constitutional protection of human dignity and bodily integrity. Spanish authorities view surrogacy as
fundamentally exploitative and contrary to public order, especially because it denies the surrogate mother
her legal status as a parent and breaks the natural maternal bond for the benefit of third-party desires.
Spain also refuses to automatically recognize foreign surrogacy contracts in its civil registry, arguing that doing
so would validate a practice that is incompatible with the country’s fundamental legal and ethical principles.
The best interest of the child is biased: surrogacy creates a situation where, before the child is even conceived,
the decision to take the child away from its biological mother has already been made, solely to satisfy the
commissioning parents — a situation that amounts to buying children. Surrogacy ignores decades of research
on the mother–baby bond.
According to international definitions, cross-border surrogacy could be described as child smuggling and
trafficking in women.
Yours sincerely
Thank you for your attention and please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information.
Marie Josèphe Devillers Ana-Luana Stoicea-Deram Berta O. Garcia
Co-presidents of the Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood