The Bioethics Committee of Spain, an advisory body of the Ministry of Health, re-ignites the debate on surrogacy. He has prepared a 92-page report in which he makes it explicitly clear that rejects surrogacy in our country, and goes further: it also asks that this practice be banned worldwide.
Surrogacy or surrogacy is a practice that It is not legalized in Spain, so about a thousand couples a year travel to other countries where they are allowed (such as Russia, the United States, Mexico, India or Ukraine) to fulfill their dream of being parents.
In its conclusions, the report of the Bioethics Committee carried out by twelve experts for six months states:
"The desire of a person to have a child, however noble it may be, cannot be realized at the expense of the rights of other persons. Any contract for pregnancy by substitution entails a woman holding and damage to the best interests of the minor; therefore, it cannot be accepted on principle. "
The agency proposes declare illegal the contracts that are made right now abroad and punish surrogacy agencies that put parents in contact with surrogate mothers. The three criteria they propose are the following:
1. Provide true legal effectiveness to the nullity of those contracts, so that it is also applicable to those celebrated abroad, for which the possibility, among other legal measures, of sanctioning the agencies dedicated to this activity could be considered.
2nd Promote at the international level a common regulatory framework which prohibits the conclusion of gestation contracts, in guarantee of the dignity of women and children.
3.ยช Ensure a safe transition that prevents children resulting from the processes of international surrogacy into which several Spaniards may be currently immersed. For this, it can be guaranteed that their affiliation abroad is carried out in accordance with the doctrine established by the Supreme Court.
Nor in the rest of the world
It is not limited to making a recommendation in the Spanish territory, but urges Spain to lead an international battle to end subrogation contracts in the world. For many sounds utopian, although it is a recommendation that the government is not obliged to assume.
"The regulatory proposals that are handled and the experiences of other countries are clearly deficient in the protection of the dignity and rights of pregnant women and children."
Eternal debate
In Spain there is a wide debate for and against rent bellies. One of the paradoxes is that although it is not legalized, a couple who has resorted to a rental belly can register their baby in the Civil Registry. A situation that makes urgent a legal framework for this controversial practice.
One of the authors of the report, Carlos María Romeo Casabona, has cast a particular vote in which does not rule out the possibility of legalizing rent bellies provided it is done in an altruistic way, that is to say without mediating economic exchange.
"It is hard for me to admit that there can be no unrelated women capable of a relevant solidarity gesture," and admits that the document does not solve the problem of "such a complex issue."
According to the president of the Spanish Association of Family Lawyers (Aeafa), María Dolores Lozano, children who arrive in Spain born by surrogacy or "womb for rent", exceed 1,000 per year, a figure that is registering an increase in recent years coinciding with the decline in international adoption.
On the one hand, there are supporters of legalizing this practice in Spain. Organizations such as the Association for Surrogacy in Spain, seek a guarantee regulation that scrupulously protect the rights of all parties involved in this process.
On the other, we have campaigns like "We are not vessels" and another worldwide, called Stop Subrogacy Now against rent bellies, who argue that the need of women with low resources is exploited to exploit them economically.
Of course, it is a matter that raises thorns because of its ethical complexity. The report of the Bioethics Committee of Spain has given its opinion in this regard, we will see if the Congress relies on it or not when deciding the future of surrogacy in our country. What do you think?
