The Times of India | January 24, 2023
Surrogacy laws in India are caught between conflicting interests of stakeholders. The state aims to protect the surrogate from exploitation, but banning surrogacy may infringe on women’s right to reproductive autonomy and limit opportunities for parenthood.
Jenny Kleeman | The Guardian | October 1, 2022
Gay men hoping to have biological children navigate high costs, complex surrogacy laws, and infertility definitions that exclude LGBTQ persons. But critics worry about exploitation of surrogates, especially internationally.
Ashish Tripathi | Deccan Herald | September 26, 2022
India’s Supreme Court will examine a challenge to the 2021 Surrogacy Act and Assisted Reproduction Act. The petition contends that the ban on commercial surrogacy may result in the exploitation of women within the family under the guise of altruistic surrogacy.
Rohitha Naraharisetty | The Swaddle | September 26, 2022
While international surrogacy makes parenthood possible for some, it also operates within global systems of inequality that leave surrogates with little recognition or power.
Jo Deahl | BBC News | September 22, 2021
Current law in the United Kingdom states that the surrogate is the legal mother when the child is born, and that legal parentage must be transferred through a parental order. Because the law also outlaws surrogacy advertisements, intended parents have turned to social media to find surrogacy matches, especially since non-profit organizations have long waiting lists. Both government officials and those who have started families through surrogacy agree that UK surrogacy law needs to be updated.
Or Kashti | Haaretz | July 12, 2021
Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that a ban on surrogacy for same sex couples and single men is discriminatory and must be lifted. The author of this opinion piece notes that surrogacy can be harmful and exploitative and urges attention toward safeguarding the rights and health of surrogates in Israel and other countries. Isha L’Isha Haifa Feminist Center highlights the lack of data on the effects of surrogacy and a lawsuit threat they received after publishing testimonies from surrogates in India.
Spanish Couples Undergoing Surrogacy Processes Left in Legal Limbo in Ukraine
By Silvia Blanco | El País | Aug. 31, 2018
As Ukraine transforms into a desirable hub for international commercial surrogacy, concerns are emerging. This article – like others found here – touches on irregularities and poor quality of care at fertility clinics, and focuses on the 30 Spanish intended parents unable to obtain passports from the Spanish Consulate in Kiev for their children amidst fears of the trafficking of minors.
Baby Guaranteed
By BBC World Service – Boston Calling | July 16, 2018
In a follow up on Ukraine, journalists travel to the country to meet with gestational mothers and fertility clinic representatives on the growing demand for surrogacy.
A review of the program by Melanie Krause is also available on BioNews.
The Surrogacy Debate in India
By News Deeply | July 5, 2018
Watch this video on the latest social and legal debate around surrogacy in India.
Thirty-Three Pregnant Cambodian Women Discovered in Surrogacy Raid
By Reuters | June 23, 2018
This article covers the crackdown on surrogacy in Cambodia, and the subsequent of arrest – and charge – of five people under the country’s anti-trafficking law.
In an update from The Guardian, the government also charged the thirty-three gestational mothers under the same law – they were not charged initially – raising potential questions about the use of regulation related to human trafficking on surrogacy.
These arrests are not the first. After Cambodia announced a ban on commercial surrogacy in 2016 while legislation was being considered, an Australian nurse and two Cambodian assistants were convicted of running an illegal commercial surrogacy clinic in the country. They were later sentenced to one and a half years in prison.