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Gestational Surrogacy, the Pope, and Needs for Regulations

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: As surrogacy grows, many states and countries are enacting or considering relevant regulations, while others oppose it. Ethical, legal and policy questions arise: how to balance the rights of various kinds of parents (e.g., heterosexual and same-sex couples and single individuals) against the rights and well-being of surrogates. Concerns include risks of exploitation, autonomy, benefits of enabling prospective parents to create loving families, and mitigating possible harms through regulations. Though a few instances of abuse have been reported in developing countries, these do not appear to have occurred in developed countries, where robust regulations exist. The limited data available on surrogates in general (i.e., including traditional and non-commercial surrogacy) do not suggest exploitation or trafficking. In 2021, New York State enacted robust regulations allowing commercial surrogacy. Subsequent competing bills have sought to loosen or enhance certain restrictions. These regulations may be a model for commercial surrogacy regulations elsewhere, but certain ethical, legal and policy questions remain (e.g., where to draw the line to prevent trafficking). Additional data and exploration of these challenges are crucial.
DOI: 10.1017/jme.2025.66
Institution: Columbia University
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4410834754
FWCI: 0.687
Cites: 17
Cited by: 1
Related to: 10