Anti-Surrogacy Call Made From Morocco

A group of lawyers, doctors and psychologists from the five continents convened, Mar.3 in Casablanca, to call for all laws enabling or tolerating surrogacy to be repealed worldwide.
The group issued a document entitled “International Declaration for the Universal Abolition of Surrogacy,” which seeks to increase global awareness of what the group deems a human-rights violation.
“We call on countries to condemn surrogacy in all modalities and kinds, whether remunerated or not, and to implement measures to fight such practice,” wrote the 70 signatories in the “Casablanca Declaration” for the Universal Abolition of surrogacy.
The call proposes the prohibition of the practice of surrogacy, the denial of any legal validity of surrogacy contracts, the punishment of individuals and corporations acting as intermediaries between surrogacy mothers and parents and the prosecution of individuals entering into surrogacy.
According to senior lecturer in law and one of the main organizers and coordinators of the initiative Aude Mirkovic, the main interest of this collective statement is to draw attention to the issue at the international level to prompt a global response.
Surrogacy is when a woman usually referred to as a “surrogate mother” carries in her womb one or more children on behalf of the intended parents to whom the child will be given after birth.