2024-04-16 15:10:00
Pope Francis calls on the international community to pronounce a universal ban on surrogacy (GPA). He spoke at an international conference, organized in Rome at the end of last week, by opponents of surrogacy from many countries. Indeed, for several years, faced with the exponential development of the surrogacy market, a counter-offensive has been organized to obtain the abolition of what is denounced as being a form of modern slavery and a violation of fundamental human rights. child and woman.
“The path to peace passes through respect for life, for all human life, starting with that of the unborn child in the womb of its mother, which can neither be suppressed nor transformed into a commercial product. In this regard, I consider the practice of surrogacy deplorable, which seriously undermines the dignity of the woman and the child and is based on the exploitation of the material needs of the mother. A child is always a gift and. is never the subject of a contract. I therefore call on the international community to commit to a universal ban on this practice.
These are the words of Pope Francis in a press release dated April 8, 2024, a few days before the holding of an international conference organized in Rome by opponents of GPA of all nationalities, on April 12 and 13.
The sovereign pontiff also received the main organizers of this Conference, and in particular Olivia Maurel, a young woman born from surrogacy, and who nevertheless campaigns for the abolition of this practice. She agreed to give an interview to France-Soir, which you will discover at the beginning of next week.
La GPA, “in total contradiction with the fundamental dignity of every human being”
“The legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a “right to a child” which does not respect the dignity of the child himself as a beneficiary of the free gift of life. »warns Pope Francis, who also accuses GPA of harming “to the dignity of the woman herself who is forced to do so or who freely decides to submit to it”the latter then becoming, according to him, “a simple means subject to arbitrary gain or the desire of others”.
“This is in total contradiction with the fundamental dignity of every human being and their right to always be recognized for themselves and never as an instrument for anything else,” concludes the Holy Father.
With this declaration, Pope Francis expresses his support, and that of the Catholic Church, for the international movement which campaigns among States for the universal abolition of surrogacy. The arguments of these activists are, more or less, the same as those put forward by the Catholic Church through the voice of its highest dignitary.
From 2018, the International Coalition to Abolish Surrogate Motherhood (CIAMS), whose France-Soir received one of the co-founders, Ana-Luana Stoicea-Deram, alerting us to the fact that “surrogacy makes the child a product with exchange value, so that the distinction between the person and the thing is canceled. » and that it reduces women’s bodies to be “a resource for the reproductive industry and markets ».
Around a hundred experts from 75 different nationalities, signatories of the Casablanca declaration.
Five years later, around a hundred experts, doctors, psychologists, lawyers, intellectuals, from 75 different nationalities, urge in a joint declaration called the “Casablanca Declaration”, named after the city where it was made public on March 3 2023, the international community to take all necessary measures “ against surrogacy in all its modalities and in all its forms, whether paid or not.
The signatories of this Statementwhose number is constantly growing, provide States with a proposal for an international convention for the universal abolition of surrogacy which they describe as a scourge from which Humanity must be preserved.
International convention proposed to States for the universal abolition of surrogacy
The signatory States to this Convention,
aware
– The suffering of people who cannot procreate
– The attraction of reproductive technologies
– And the international challenge of effective protection of human dignity
Convinced that the contract by which one or more sponsors agree with a woman that she will bear a child or several children with a view to their delivery at birth, whatever its name and its terms and hereinafter referred to as surrogacy ( GPA),
– Violates human dignity
– And contributes to the commodification of women and children
Condemn surrogacy in all its modalities and in all its forms, whether paid or not.
Commit to fighting against this practice to protect and preserve human dignity and the rights of women and children, by adopting concrete measures and, in particular:
– Ban surrogacy on their territory
– Refuse any legal value to contracts involving the commitment for a woman to carry and deliver a child
– Sanction people, natural or legal, who offer themselves as intermediaries between surrogate mothers and sponsors
– Sanction people who use surrogacy on their territory
– Sanction their nationals who use surrogacy outside their territory
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