U.S. mum amid growing, worldwide condemnation of surrogacy

Mexico has joined a growing list of countries cracking down on surrogacy, a practice that remains totally unregulated in the United States. The international momentum against allowing women to carry another couple’s child for profit has led some to wonder when U.S. lawmakers will take a stand.

Three days ago, the Mexican state of Tabasco, in the country’s south-eastern region, voted to prohibit surrogacy for foreigners and homosexual men. Tabasco is the only Mexican state that allows surrogacy, and it had already limited the practice to cases of altruism.

Thanks to low costs, Mexico became a destination country for couples wanting to hire a surrogate, especially after countries like India and Thailand began tightening restrictions. International surrogacy agencies set up bases in Cancun, already a hub for medical tourism, The Guardian reported. The altruistic requirement limited surrogacy in theory, but surrogacy agencies navigated around it.

While the Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC) applauded Tabasco’s effort to control the practice, “the only principled long-term solution is a full and total ban on the practice,” wrote Christopher White, CBC’s director of research and education.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament in Brussels officially condemned surrogacy this week in its 2014 report on democracy and human rights.

“[It] condemns the practice of surrogacy, which undermines the human dignity of the woman, since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity,” the parliament said in a resolution. It also labeled surrogacy for financial gain—especially surrogacy involving “vulnerable women in developing countries”—an urgent human rights issue.

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community disagreed with some elements of the report but called the parliament’s condemnation of surrogacy a “positive outcome.”

“We can only congratulate the European Parliament on the affirmation of such essential shared civilized values,” the bishops said.

After the European Parliament issued its condemnation, CBC president Jennifer Lahl, questioned when the United States, including presidential candidates, would take a stand against surrogacy.

Lahl called surrogacy exploitative and pointed to two recent California cases in which surrogates faced pressure to abort. One surrogate, Brittneyrose Torres, refused to abort one of the triplets she is carrying and offered to adopt the baby instead. The parents refused her offer. And though they can’t force Torres to abort, they may refuse to pay her due to breach of contract, CBS News reported.

“Are women’s lives less important in the United States than other parts of the world?” Lahl said. “Most countries throughout the world understand that the commercial surrogacy industry exploits women for financial gain and that this is a human rights issue of global proportions.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.