The feminist canadian Ngo « Pour les droits des femmes du Québec » publishes a booklet to assist all those who want to learn more about surrogacy as social practice.

Here is a brief extract (p. 2-3) :

« The consequences of surrogate motherhood on women and children

Reports on surrogate motherhood show us beautiful babies in their sponsor parents’ arms who are all smiles but don’t show the flip side as much.

While we know that many adopted children remain scared by their biological mother’s abandonment, why aren’t we asking questions about what happens to the children when they find out they were conceived for sale? While psychiatrists and psychologists have spent decades blaming mothers whose child suffered from mental disorders, why are they remaining silent about these scheduled abandonments? Could it be that with technology, the right to one’s origins, for which many adopted individuals have struggled, would become suddenly insignificant?

Surrogate motherhood also has consequences on women who are reduced to being potential uteruses. Just as is the case with prostitution which transforms them into disposal bodies for sex buyers, their body is also becoming a commodity for buyers who have the money to use them and make sure the signed contract clauses are respected, most of the time under the auspices of the agencies that negotiated the trade. Finally, for surrogate mothers themselves, in addition to any pregnancy’s inherent danger, there are real possible complications related to medically assisted procreation techniques since more than one-third of women who have used them had to be hospitalized. This, on top of various psychological difficulties that can surely arise after having abandoned a child they have been bearing for nine months. »

We deeply thank PDF Québec for the opportunity to share this booklet both in French and in English.

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