On January 8th, Pope Francis called for a global ban on surrogacy, stating: „I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs”.
Surrogacy turns a child into „an object of trafficking”, Francis added, saying a „child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine says in its recommended guidelines for surrogacy that potential carriers should have a „stable family environment with adequate support” and shouldn’t show any evidence of „financial or emotional coercion.”
Surrogates can earn roughly $40,000 and sometimes tens of thousands more, and all medical costs are typically paid for by the intended parent or parents.
This declaration came as a surprise for many, after Francis repeatedly expressed varying degrees of acceptance of the LGBT community.Surrogacy, however, is the only option for queer couples to have children, besides adoption – thus, this implicitly also marks a change in Francis’s apparent previous acceptance of LGBT couples.
The pope framed his condemnation of surrogacy as a human rights abuse, the Catholic tradition has consistently opposed surrogacy, in vitro fertilization and abortion on the grounds that they violate natural law, points out The Conversation.
Pope Francis wants to bless gay couples, hems and haws on women priests
