Surrogacy criminalized in Italy: a first step towards its “universal abolition”?

The Italian Senate recently adopted a law by which Italian citizens using surrogacy abroad would receive the same sanction as if it were carried out in Italy, where it is illegal. The seriousness of the crime is the same, regardless of the nationality of the victims and the place where it is committed.

Yulia is from Donbass and a war widow. She was 35 years old and had two children when she agreed to bear a child for a foreign couple. Once the contract was signed, Yulia went to Georgia for the embryo transfer before returning to Ukraine. But the clients are worried about the war (and not confident in his diet) and ask him to go to Albania. She cannot refuse, the contract is more binding than she thought. Stressed at the idea of ​​leaving her children with the grandparents, Yulia postpones the deadline, but at 7 months pregnant the clients rush her, so she ends up going to Albania, where she will give birth. Customers are reassured.

Value for money for a GPA

Angela is recovering from childbirth. A postpartum hemorrhage almost killed her, but in 5-6 months she will recover, even if she will no longer be able to have children. It was a second GPA pregnancy. During the first, she met “dad” in the maternity ward; he wanted her to breastfeed the little one, and when she explained to him that she didn’t want to, he was very kind and didn’t insist. Then, he wanted his children to have the same “gestational mother” and directly called on her for his second embryo. Twelve months later, she was pregnant again. Mother of two children, she will soon be 28 years old and the money from this second GPA will pay off the debt left by her ex-husband. For his part, the dad is happy (quality/price ratio and reliability, Colombia is in a good position).

Leslie decided to become a “surrogate” mother after having her third “kept” child (keepersas they call them among themselves surrogatesto differentiate them from surroBB, which they do not keep). The first GPA pregnancy went well, except for the horrible headaches that nothing relieved and the painful traces of the injections, which took months to resolve. But it was during the second, which began in great shape and confidence, that she was diagnosed with cancer, when she was 22 weeks pregnant. She was very divided, between the worry of not getting treatment in time and the risk of leaving her children orphans on the one hand and on the other her responsibility to fulfill her contract with the “intended parents”. She gave birth a little prematurely, at 37 weeks, and started her treatment at the last minute, thanks to good insurance.

Clara doesn’t dare ask questions. Her parents love her and she loves them back. Since she was little, she knew that she was born to a good fairy. Over time, she understood that mom and dad are not her genetic parents. To journalists they had introduced her to since she was 6-7 years old, she and her parents explained the fantastic triple donation (sperm, oocyte and gestation) from which she was born. The puzzle of parenthood delighted everyone. However, she would like to know who she looks like, where her roots are, who gave her life. At 24, Clara knows that she is not the only one to ask herself these questions and feel guilty for not being able to silence them. Other young people born, like her, to a “surrogate” mother (they prefer not to say “surrogate”, as some of their parents do), express the same perplexity, feeling of duty, conflict of loyalty.

Andrej will be 6 years old and still lives in this home where he was placed at 8 months old, like dozens of children born in Ukraine to “surrogate” mothers. Their sponsors never came looking for them. Mark and Ryan learn that their mother is away on a long trip and that she is doing it for their own good; along with other Filipinas, she traveled to Kyrgyzstan to be a “surrogate” mother.

For a universal abolition of GPA

GPA is legal in the countries mentioned as in other countries. People who wish to use it make their choices on a globalized market where the diversity of offers aims to satisfy all customer profiles. For the asking price we obtain one or more newborns brought into the world by contract. Their mothers are not paid to give up a child, nor to accept its adoption in advance (which would be illegal). The woman who agrees to become a “surrogate” mother agrees to her partial compensation for « pain, suffering and emotional distress that she may suffer as a result of her participation” to the contract. In other words, a mother agrees to be compensated for suffering violence (medical, obstetrical, psychological) inflicted knowingly and without any necessity. Added to this are physical constraints and economic and social violence, carefully invisible. In this market, agency bosses (almost all men) have become millionaires.

GPA is a global market that monetizes violence against women in order to organize the sale of children for the benefit of an ultraliberal system fueled by structural inequalities between women and men and by the objectification of children and women. . Violence and objectification are the same, and just as contrary to human rights, regardless of where on the planet and the price paid to contract them.

All countries fighting against violence against women and the commodification of human beings should join forces to abolish surrogacy. It was through its universal abolition that slavery could be effectively fought. And it is through the universal abolition of surrogacy that its victims can be protected.