Reports that women surrogates are being kept in slave like conditions in Greece have renewed calls for a serious rethink of lax surrogacy controls.
National Director of Politics for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), Wendy Francis, said “It is an inescapable truth that vulnerable women are being exploited so that Australians can procure a baby. Not only are some surrogates being kept virtually as slaves, the revelations of the Mediterranean Fertility Clinic in Chania, Crete show that they are paid a pittance, are subjected to egg harvesting, and being pressured to repeat the process.
She said, “This evidence shows that the push to make surrogacy easier in Australia is based on a callous disregard for the young female surrogates. Rather than weakening surrogacy laws, if we are serious about ending slavery, we must end the practice. This latest case is nothing more than the sale of children through commercial surrogacy at the expense of vulnerable young women.”
The ACL calls on all governments to reject all moves to increase access to surrogacy and to conduct an independent inquiry into the practice.
