Surrogacy in the News

Forced Gifting: English Surrogacy, Gestational Labor, and the Inequality of Choice

Harvard Law School Petrie-Flom Center | September 4, 2023

England and Wales do not allow compensated surrogacy on the logic that altruistic surrogacy better protects surrogates from exploitation, but in doing so, UK law supports a long history of devaluing women’s reproductive labor.

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Georgia Set to Ban Commercial Surrogacy

Institute for War & Peace Reporting | August 8, 2023

The Georgian government is drafting a law to ban paid surrogacy, allowing only altruistic agreements for Georgian heterosexual couples: foreigners would not be permitted to engage in surrogacy arrangements there.

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Hannah McCarthy travels to Kenya and finds a growing number of surrogate cases there

The Journal | August 7, 2023

Surrogacy is booming in Kenya, and some Irish intended parents are turning there for services. But surrogates face health and other risks, and intended parents are not ensured easy transfer of legal parentage in either Kenya or Ireland.

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Research Probes Exploitation Risks in Banned Commercial Surrogacy

Mirage News | August 1, 2023

A study on Thailand’s ban on commercial surrogacy shows that the underground industry leaves surrogates with few protections. An international legislative framework could regulate surrogacy without penalizing the surrogate.

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Italy’s far-right government is using surrogacy to strip LGBTQ+ Italians of their rights

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government ordered Italian municipalities to stop certifying foreign birth certificates for same-sex couples who had children through surrogacy in other countries, a move that drew condemnation from the European parliament. A number of Pride parades this summer featured challenges to the government’s anti-LGBTQ measures. Meloni’s government continues its attack on the rights of LGBTQ+ Italians by retroactively stripping same-sex parents of their legal connection to their children––including those who formed families using surrogacy.

June/July 2023

Italian parliament approves bill to criminalise surrogacy abroad
Angelia Giuffrida, The Guardian

Italy’s Mounting Attack on Lesbian Parents
Erin Kilbride, Human Rights Watch

Italy according to Giorgia Meloni: no country for non-traditional families
Valérie Gauriat and Davide Lobina, EuroNews

Italy begins stripping lesbian mothers of their parental rights
Molly Sprayregen, LGBTQ Nation

Why gay couples using surrogacy are the latest target for Europe’s far right
John Last, CBC News

How Italy is using surrogacy to erode LGBTQ+ rights
Andrea Carlo, Politico

Italy Wants to Punish Surrogacy With Jail Even If Done Legally
Chiara Albanese, Bloomberg

Rome holds LGBTQ+ Pride parade amid backdrop of Meloni government crackdown on surrogate births
Frances D’Emilio, Yahoo News

Rightwing governor of Lazio region withdraws backing for pride parade
Angelia Giuffrida, The Guardian

March/April 2023

Same-sex couples not eligible for Ireland’s new publicly-funded IVF scheme

GCN | July 25, 2023

Ireland will begin publicly funding IVF in September, but the program excludes same-sex couples and those using donor sperm or eggs. LGBTQ rights and other advocates are critiquing those and other eligibility requirements.

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Italy begins stripping lesbian mothers of their parental rights

LGBTQ Nation | July 17, 2023

In conjunction with its attack on the rights of same-sex parents, the Italian government has begun retroactively stripping same-sex parents of their legal connection to their children––including those who formed families using surrogacy.

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Anger As UK Police Claim They’re Unable To Prosecute ‘Criminal’ Surrogacy Agency New Life

Pulitzer Center | July 16, 2023

British police say that New Life, an international agency that sells cut-price, offshore surrogacies to infertile and gay couples, has broken the UK’s Surrogacy Arrangements Law, but the authorities claim to be unable to prosecute anyone involved.

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China launches campaign to crack down on illegal fertility treatments

Reuters | July 11, 2023

The Chinese government announced that it is cracking down on illegal activities related to the use of assisted reproductive technologies, including surrogacy and the purchase of sperm or eggs.

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Why gay couples using surrogacy are the latest target for Europe’s far right

CBC | July 3, 2023

Italy is not alone in its efforts to ban surrogacy: the anti-surrogacy movement is rapidly gaining momentum among the newly empowered far-right parties throughout Europe, part of their broader effort to disenfranchise LGBTQ families.

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