Gestational Surrogacy: a frontal assault on fundamental shared EU values unknown
Gestational surrogacy is an issue of increasing preoccupation and concern in contemporary political and legal debate across the European Union. Against that background, the COMECE Working Group on Ethics in Research and Medicine has published an “Opinion on Gestational Surrogacy: the question of European and International Rules”, which is presented today, 23 February, at an event hosted by MEP Miroslav Mikolasik at the European Parliament.
The Opinion makes clear that all forms of gestational surrogacy represent a violent assault on the human dignity of all involved in this exchange; in particular, it instrumentalises the gestational mother (often trapped in involuntary poverty and ruthlessly trafficked) and treats the child as an object. Therefore, the practice can in no circumstances be countenanced. The Opinion, bearing also in mind the European Union set of competences, recommends, as a possible first step, the evaluation of the feasibility of the refusal of the transcription of birth certificates of the birth countries, thus curbing a practice which, as the Opinion cogently argues in three progressive steps, runs counter to the fundamental values the European Union espouses.
