THE GLOBAL REGULATION OF SURROGACY: COMPARATIVE LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS AND THE CASE FOR ABOLITION
THE GLOBAL REGULATION OF SURROGACY: COMPARATIVE LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS AND THE CASE FOR ABOLITION

Summary/Abstract: Surrogacy, long debated at the crossroads of law, ethics, and culture, entered a new phase of polarisation in 2024 and 2025. Judicial rulings, legislative initiatives, and international documents revealed not a trajectory of convergence but a fractured landscape, in which prohibitionist, restrictive, permissive, and emergent approaches coexist in tension. This article offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of these developments, drawing on national case law and legislation, as well as regional and international instruments. It highlights how divergent models engage with fundamental principles such as the best interests of the child, the dignity of gestational mothers, and the structural risks of exploitation, while also situating current debates within broader cultural logics that privilege adult reproductive projects – what scholars have termed adultcentrism. By integrating national reforms with emerging international instruments – including the 2024 EU Directive on trafficking, the 2024 UN General Assembly Resolution on violence against women and girls, the 2025 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences – the article underscores the need to reassess the adequacy of existing paradigms. It concludes that only an abolitionist framework can coherently address the structural harms of surrogacy – commodification, the transformation of adult desire into entitlement, the disproportionate burdens on women, risks to health, and the dangers of exploitation and human trafficking – while safeguarding the rights of children and women.

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