Women Policy Centre Report Urges Worldwide Prohibition of Surrogacy Practices

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Summary: A new Women Policy Centre report by Lexis Ellingsworth has called for a global ban on surrogacy, citing concerns about the exploitation of women, risks to health and the commodification of children.

A new report by Lexis Ellingsworth, the co-founder of StopSurrogacyNowUK, for the Women Policy Centre, titled “The Case for a Universal Ban on Surrogacy,” has called for a global prohibition of surrogacy, noting that the practice leads to the exploitation of women’s bodies and the commodification of children. The report challenges the common framing of surrogacy as a private, consensual arrangement between adults, stating that international analyses reveal a more complex and concerning reality.

Surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman (the surrogate) carries and gives birth to a child for another person or couple (intended parents). It is a multi-billion-dollar global industry, projected to be worth over $200bn in less than 10 years, and centred on commercial and cross-border arrangements.

“Some of the most harrowing examples come from family arrangements, where women are groomed and deceived into believing the child they carry in pregnancy is not their child but instead belongs to someone else. At birth, they are expected to ‘give the baby back,” the report highlights.

Citing findings from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, the report notes that surrogacy can amount to violence against women, with concerns centred on the use of women’s reproductive capacity for the benefit of others and the treatment of children as commodities exchanged for compensation or expenses.

It further states that surrogacy raises serious questions under international human rights frameworks, particularly regarding the separation of a mother and child at birth and the ethical implications of placing that relationship within a contractual arrangement.

“Evidence also indicates that surrogacy pregnancies are associated with elevated health risks, with studies suggesting a substantially higher rate of severe pregnancy complications compared to non-surrogacy pregnancies,” the report states.

The publication examines the impact on women, including issues of consent, economic inequality, health risks, and legal protections, as well as the consequences for children, including identity, attachment, safeguarding, and existing protections. 

The report ultimately called for stronger international action to address what it describes as structural harms embedded within the practice.