Pope Francis called for a global ban on surrogacy Monday during a speech about threats to peace and human dignity.
Along with more predictable choices like war and nuclear weapons, the pope spoke against surrogate motherhood, arguing that the process allows the rich to exploit the poor and violates the dignity of women and babies.
“I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally,” Pope Francis said according to Reuters.
How does surrogacy work?
Surrogacy is the process through which a woman carries a baby for an individual or couple who are unable to carry a baby on their own. In gestational surrogacy, the “gestational carrier” is impregnated through the IVF process and is not the baby’s genetic mother, according to Yale Medicine.
The article noted that surrogacy is typically pursued by women with health challenges related to their uterus, women who are deemed too medically fragile to carry a pregnancy to term, women who have lost multiple pregnancies or men in a same-sex partnership who are hoping to have a child.
Women who become surrogate mothers may be doing so out of a desire to help individuals or couples struggling with infertility, because they enjoy being pregnant, because they see it as a financial opportunity, or some mix of these and other factors.
“Critics say commercial surrogacy targets women who are poor and from vulnerable communities. Supporters say surrogacy gives women a chance to provide children to childless couples, and that commercial contracts protect both the surrogates and the intended parents,” The Associated Press reported.
As the AP noted, at the Yale Fertility Center and other medical centers that facilitate surrogacy, couples are generally required to have a legal contract with their surrogate mother to ensure that everyone involved in the process is treated fairly.
Participants are also sometimes required to meet with counselors to ensure that the process won’t harm their mental health.
But some countries, as well as some states in the U.S., believe that no amount of legal requirements and other safeguards will make compensated surrogacy ethical and worth the risks involved.
The practice is banned or highly regulated across much of Europe, including in Italy, where the pope lives, according to The New York Times.
Pope statements on surrogacy
Monday was not the first time Pope Francis has spoken against surrogacy. He’s repeatedly raised concerns about the practice, arguing that it’s “inhuman” and exploitative and that it treats children like “merchandise,” The New York Times reported.
“I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs,” he said Monday, per Reuters.
The pope’s critiques of surrogacy echo the formal teaching on the practice from the Catholic Church. The church opposes surrogacy, as well as the use of IVF more broadly.
“The Catholic Church teaches that the practice of surrogacy is not morally permissible. Instead, we should pray for, and work towards, a world that upholds the profound dignity of every person, at every stage and in every circumstance of life,” said Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a Monday statement on the pope’s remarks.
The Catholic Church does allow children born through the surrogacy process to be baptized, according to The Associated Press.
Religious teachings on surrogacy
Catholic leaders are not alone in their opposition to surrogacy. Other faith leaders, most of whom are considered theologically conservative, have spoken out against the practice.
For example, Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits once said that “to use another woman as an incubator … for a fee … (is a) revolting degradation of maternity and an affront to human dignity,” per MyJewishLearning.com.
The Russian Orthodox Church also teaches against surrogacy, arguing that it violates “the profound emotional and spiritual intimacy that is established between mother and child already during the pregnancy,” according to Sojourners.
But many faith groups stop short of banning surrogacy and instead encourage members to proceed with caution.
For example, while The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discourages surrogacy, it leaves it up to married couples to decide, through prayer and reflection, whether they should pursue it.
“The pattern of a husband and wife providing bodies for God’s spirit children is divinely appointed. For this reason, the Church discourages surrogate motherhood. However, this is a personal matter that is ultimately left to the judgment and prayerful consideration of the husband and wife,” reads the General Handbook of policies provided by the church.
In a 2019 interview with Sojourners, Eloise Drane recounted getting similar wisdom from her pastor at a nondenominational Christian church when she asked about serving as a surrogate mother for someone else. He encouraged her read the Bible and listen to what God was trying to tell her about the process.
The Sojourners article noted that the Christian community, in general, is divided over the practice of gestational surrogacy and that faith leaders have some catching up to do when it comes to understanding reproductive technologies and articulating moral guidance.
“The fact that theological guidance on this is all over the map suggests that in a lot of our churches and seminaries, we’re not doing a lot of thinking about some of these issues in bioethics,” said Scott Rae, co-author of “Outside the Womb: Moral Guidance for Assisted Reproduction,” to Sojourners.