More than 160 organizations urged the United Nations to abolish surrogacy worldwide, calling it the sale of children and a violation of human dignity.
Story Highlights
- A global coalition pressed the United Nations to ban all forms of surrogacy, paid or unpaid.
- The Casablanca Declaration says surrogacy treats children as commodities and harms women’s dignity.
- United Nations child-rights language links poorly regulated surrogacy to sale of children risks.
- Human Rights Watch argues surrogacy is not, by itself, a sale of children, backing strict safeguards instead.
Coalition Demands A Global Ban On Surrogacy Contracts
Leaders behind the Casablanca Declaration asked the United Nations to push countries to outlaw surrogacy in every form. The text rejects both commercial and so-called altruistic arrangements and calls for no legal recognition of any contract to carry and deliver a child. Organizers describe a basic principle: women and children are never for rent or sale. They want an international convention to help nations stop cross-border surrogacy markets and to shut down brokers profiting from baby handovers.
Declaration advocates argue that surrogacy breaks core rights by turning babies into deliverables and women into vessels. Their public materials stress dignity, identity, and protection from coercion. They say countries should act together because money and agencies move across borders to find the weakest laws. Supporters report that a large network of civil groups now backs this approach, with hundreds of organizations signing letters in favor of abolition-focused United Nations workstreams and reports.
United Nations Child-Rights Language Flags Sale-Of-Children Risk
United Nations child-rights documents already warn about dangers tied to surrogacy. The Committee on the Rights of the Child said that surrogacy, when not monitored and regulated, may lead to sale of children. It called for safeguards to prevent that outcome. Casablanca signatories say these warnings point to a clear legal path: if a child is transferred for money or other consideration, that fits the treaty definition of sale. They argue abolition is the only way to stop that risk everywhere.
Casablanca authors also submitted materials to United Nations bodies that frame surrogacy as a prearranged transfer at birth in exchange for benefits. They cite the Optional Protocol’s definition of sale of children to support their claim that payments, fees, or other consideration surrounding handover meet the threshold. They ask United Nations officials to treat the practice as a prohibited market, not as a health service or a private contract.
Counter-Arguments Push Regulation, Not Abolition
Human Rights Watch told the United Nations that some surrogacy involves fair reimbursement for lost wages and health care. The group said such arrangements do not and should not be treated as sale of children under the Optional Protocol. It warned about abuse by brokers where laws are weak, but urged better safeguards rather than blanket bans. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights likewise describes a regulatory vacuum and calls for clear rules to prevent sale of children in commercial surrogacy.
‘Sale of a child’: 160 organizations ask UN to abolish surrogacy
The Declaration of Casablanca says surrogacy exploits women and treats children as the objects of contracts between commissioning parties and surrogate mothers, urging a UN condemnation.https://t.co/ch7zysv8UJ
— anne (@anneMeritBay) September 16, 2026
An ethics review published in a medical journal favors non-commercial surrogacy limited to strict reimbursement. It recommends independent legal advice and separate counseling for all parties. Casablanca backers reply that lines blur in practice. They say money flows, agency fees, and pre-birth parentage deals create a market logic that treats the child like a product. They argue that complex rules cannot clean up an industry built on planned separation of a newborn from the woman who bore the child.
What It Means For U.S. Families, States, And Policy
This fight now moves from papers to policy. Some U.S. states have normalized commercial surrogacy through contracts and parentage orders. Others restrict it. If the United Nations takes up the Casablanca push, countries will face pressure to close legal gaps that attract cross-border baby-broker deals. Supporters of the Declaration want the United States to defend children’s rights and women’s dignity by blocking the sale logic at its root and refusing to enforce surrogacy contracts as a matter of public policy.
President Trump’s administration has made child protection, border integrity, and dignity a priority. Lawmakers weighing this issue will need clear lines: no sale of children, no contracts that pre-arrange a child handover for money, and tough action on intermediaries who profit. Voters can ask state leaders whether their laws invite trafficking risks or protect families. The core choice is simple: treat life as a gift to be guarded, or as a market good to be ordered and delivered.
Sources:
declaration-surrogacy-casablanca.org, alliancevita.org, hrw.org
