Our founder has been quoted in Scottish Legal News in response to the publication of a new report calling for a global surrogacy ban by the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women and Girls, Reem Al Salem.
Ms Al Salem will formally present her findings to the UN General Assembly in October 2025.
We responded to the consultation which underpinned this report, and are delighted to see its recommendations include advocating for a global surrogacy ban. We will continue to make the case to the British Government that they should follow the lead of most other European countries and ban this practice entirely.
The report states that in 2023, the global surrogacy market was valued at $14.95 billion and is projected to reach $99.75 billion by 2033. Surrogate mothers often receive only a small fraction of the overall payment made by commissioning parents, with the majority of the fee going to intermediaries or surrogacy agencies. Unlike in adoption, where parental assessment is recognized as an essential child protection measure, very few, if any, background checks are carried out on commissioning parents; instead, the primary requirement placed on commissioning parents is the financial capacity to pay a substantial sum for the surrogacy procedure. Globally, most surrogate mothers come from lower-income backgrounds and have less social status compared with the commissioning parents. Many surrogate mothers lack access to effective legal remedies or advocacy mechanisms.
The report concluded:
“The practice of surrogacy is characterized by exploitation and violence against women and children, including girls. It reinforces patriarchal norms by commodifying and objectifying women’s bodies and exposing surrogate mothers and children to serious human rights violations. Considering the above, the Special Rapporteur recommends that Member States and other relevant stakeholders:
(a) At the international level, take steps towards eradicating surrogacy in all its forms.
(b) Work towards adopting an international legally binding instrument prohibiting all forms of surrogacy;
(c) Adopt a legal and policy framework for surrogacy that is modelled on the Nordic model for prostitution and includes pillars for penalizing buyers, clinics and agencies to end the demand for surrogacy; decriminalizing surrogate mothers; providing exit support strategies for surrogate mothers. Consequently, the advertising of surrogacy services and agencies must be prohibited.”
