On October 10, during a meeting at the United Nations, Reem Alsalem, a special reporter on violence against women and girls, called for the worldwide abolition of surrogacy. Just a few days earlier, 228 organizations from 40 different countries had supported her report in a joint statement.
Reem Alsalem expressed her concerns, stating, “Being born through surrogacy means starting life with a separation and a loss.” She highlighted that women who act as surrogate mothers often face physical, psychological, and economic violence, and their dignity and fundamental rights are violated. She firmly stated, “No society can progress by normalizing the sale of women’s bodies. This is not love; it is violence.” She compared surrogacy to prostitution, saying that both exploit women simply for being women.
The special reporter also defended the rights of children born through surrogacy, pointing out that they are separated from the only mother they have ever known right from birth. “Being born through surrogacy means starting life with a rupture and a loss,” she emphasized.
Reem Alsalem addressed the states, insisting that the goal should be clear: to abolish surrogacy in all its forms. She proposed that those who buy and profit from surrogacy should be criminalized, but never the women themselves.
Several states praised the quality of her report and supported the creation of a treaty. The Casablanca Declaration, which aims to achieve this goal, was represented in New York by its executive director, Bernard Garcia, and its spokesperson, Olivia Maurel, who was herself born through surrogacy. She described this moment as “historic for the rights of women and children.”
Olivia Maurel expressed her happiness, stating, “Reem Alsalem told the truth that the world needs to hear: surrogacy is violence, not an act of love. History is being written today.”
This article has been translated and simplified by artificial intelligence from a French article “« Aucune société ne peut progresser en normalisant la vente du corps des femmes » : à l’ONU, Reem Alsalem appelle à abolir la GPA”
It may therefore contain errors. The French version is the reference version..