(LifeSiteNews) — Over the past year, debates on so-called “reproductive technologies” have been front and center in the public debate. LGBT activists are insisting that the availability of IVF and surrogacy are a “human right” so that homosexuals can purchase children and rent women for the purpose of gestating artificially-conceived children. Despite that, on May 27, an amendment to the European Union’s anti-trafficking law was adopted that included surrogacy along with forced marriage and illegal adoption.
A recent study published in the journal Human Reproduction and covered by the Telegraph on July 7 provides more practical reasons for opposing surrogacy. The authors recently presented their research at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) meeting in Amsterdam.
The Canadian study, which examined the records of almost one million births, concluded that surrogates “have double the chance of dangerous pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure and heavy bleeding compared to natural mothers.” The study found that around 7 percent of surrogates “suffered severe complications, compared with just 2.4 per cent of women with natural conceptions and 4.6 per cent of people undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF).”
READ: ‘Married’ homosexual arrested for child pornography allegedly planned to abuse surrogate baby
According to Marina Ivanova of Queen’s University, one of the study authors: “There are several potential mechanisms that might explain the increased risk of several maternal morbidity amongst gestational carriers (surrogates). These include differences in baseline health or socio-demographic characteristics of those who choose to become gestational carriers, potential differences in prenatal care and monitoring, the physiological and psychological impact associated with carrying a pregnancy for another person, as well as the effects of treatments used during the IVF process.”
The study authors found that “one in seven surrogates suffered postpartum haemorrhages (heavy bleeds after birth) compared with just one in 17 women who had conceived naturally” and that “one in seven surrogates had high blood pressure disorders compared with just one in 15 unassisted conceptions.” They also concluded that in both of these cases, IVF “also had a higher risk of complications,” although not as high as surrogacy. Fortunately, the study did not find any significant impact on the health of the babies.
According to study supervisor and senior author Dr. Maria Velez: “[Surrogates] were also less likely to be in the highest income bracket, and we know that lower socio-economic status is associated with higher serious maternal morbidity rates. However, sociodemographic characteristics were accounted for in the analysis, and the results were similar, which suggest potential different mechanisms.” According to the Telegraph:
Surrogacy is legal in Britain, but is not legally enforceable, so a birth mother cannot be forced to give up a child. It is also illegal to pay a woman anything more than reasonable expenses. The number of parents having a baby using a surrogate in England and Wales has almost quadrupled in the last 10 years. Parental orders, which transfer legal parentage from the surrogate, rose from 117 in 2011 to 435 in 2021.
As the EU’s recent amendment to their anti-trafficking law indicates, surrogacy has become increasingly controversial. The Italian parliament approved a bill to criminalize surrogacy in 2023; earlier this year, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told the “For a Young Europe: Demographic Transition, Environment, Future” conference in Rome that “I continue to believe that surrogacy is an inhuman practice.” If passed, Meloni’s bill would increase penalties for surrogacy, which is already illegal, by hiking fines from €600,000 to €1 million and increasing jail terms from three months up to two years.
Despite the EU’s condemnation of surrogacy as a form of trafficking, CNN claimed that the push to criminalize surrogacy “is largely seen as a move against” the so-called “LGBTQ+ community.”
