NEW YORK, NY, October 9, 2025 – The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) applauds the report “The different manifestations of violence against women and girls in the context of surrogacy” released by the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem. The report will be presented at the 80th United Nations General Assembly on October 10, 2025, in New York City.

In preparation for the publication of this report, the Special Rapporteur received input from 120 stakeholders, including CATW, and held consultation sessions with 78 wide-ranging experts from around the world such as women’s rights and children’s rights groups, commissioning parents, reproductive surrogacy agencies, medical professionals, and surrogate mothers.

The report identifies the practice of surrogacy as one that contravenes international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, as well as the human rights principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights..

The Special Rapporteur concludes that “the practice of surrogacy is characterized by exploitation and violence against women and children, including girls. It reinforces patriarchal norms by commodifying and objectifying women’s bodies and exposing surrogate mothers and children to serious human rights violations.”

Many countries around the world have banned surrogacy on the basis that it violates the dignity of women and children, contributes to maternal mortality, fosters trafficking and exploitation, negates the notion of free and informed consent, and impedes efforts to reach equality for women. However, under significant market pressure from the multi-billion-dollar global reproductive technology industry, an increasing number of jurisdictions are pushing for the normalization, regulation, and legalization of surrogacy, which consequently leads to “reproductive tourism.”

Regardless of the state’s regulatory framework, surrogacy contractual arrangements prey on the economic precarity of the surrogate mother and her family, and the intersecting forms of discrimination that contribute to her vulnerabilities. The report makes clear how the surrogacy industry is inextricably linked to abuses of power that trigger various forms of violence, including economic, psychological, physical, and reproductive.

The findings of the Special Rapporteur have particular urgency as the reproductive commercial surrogacy market is growing exponentially. In 2023, the surrogacy market was valued at $14.95 billion worldwide and is projected to reach $99.75 billion by 2033.

This increase in the demand for commercial surrogacy is indicative of the socio-cultural acceptance of this harmful practice, in part due to the media’s largely positive and uncritical coverage of surrogacy without due consideration of the acute inequalities that facilitate the practice. Terms used to refer to the surrogate mothers such as “a womb,” “gestational carrier,” or “incubator” further dehumanize women and reduce them to commodities in a marketplace.

There is also little attention paid to the risks of health and death of surrogate mothers and the children they bear. Studies show that surrogate mothers have a higher rate of maternal health complications including ectopic pregnancies, gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-eclampsia, and placenta previa. A child born via surrogacy is also at greater risk of preterm birth and higher rates of low birth weight and other adverse health consequences.

“The surrogate mothers’ invisibility, in law, in research, and in the lives of the children they bear, hides their suffering and defines state-sanctioned dehumanization of women,” said Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of CATW. “Modern family models and advances in medical science must not be excuses for governments to legalize surrogacy, which also heightens the risk of trafficking and exploitation of women and children. We are grateful to the UN Special Rapporteur for this groundbreaking report, making clear the myriad ways in which surrogacy threatens women’s bodily autonomy, health, safety, and the right to equality.”

The Special Rapporteur urges UN Member States to take steps to develop an international convention to end the practice of surrogacy and support its survivors.

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