Surrogacy

Women's Forum Australia is opposed to all forms of surrogacy, whether commercial or altruistic.

Women's Forum Australia commends the Parliamentary Committee's decision to reject the legalisation of commercial surrogacy in Australia, but maintains that its recommendation to facilitate and regulate altruistic surrogacy overlooks the fact that all surrogacy is inherently exploitative of both women and children.

Women's Forum Australia believes that surrogacy objectifies and exploits women by deliberately fracturing motherhood into biological, gestational and social roles, with disadvantaged women being particularly vulnerable to exploitation. It objectifies and exploits children by treating them as commodities to be traded. It involves the deliberate separation of a child from its birth mother and preferences the desires of the commissioning parents over the most vulnerable parties involved in the "transaction".

Women's Forum Australia believes that Australian law should have at its heart respect for the dignity of every human being. It should not be an instrument for legally exploiting women and children.