The practice of surrogacy violates the dignity and rights of both women and children, while tearing at family bonds, said the Vatican's top diplomat to the United Nations.
Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia -- the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N., and recently named as papal nuncio to the U.S. -- shared his thoughts during a March 12 side event amid the multinational forum's 70th commission on the status of women.
The side event, "Protecting Women and Children: Combating Violence and Exploitation in Surrogacy," was organized by the Holy See and the nation of Italy, in partnership with Turkey, Paraguay and the U.N. Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on violence against women and girls.
Catholic teaching, expressed in the 1987 instruction "Donum Vitae," holds that surrogacy is contrary to both the unity of marriage and the dignity of human procreation, depriving the child of fundamental rights to be born and raised by biological parents, while objectifying women and eroding familial ties.
In his statement, Archbishop Caccia described the issue of surrogacy as "urgent," noting that "technology and practice" have "run laps around the law and ethics."
In 2024, the global surrogacy market -- including fertility clinics, hospitals and health care professionals -- totaled an estimated $22.4 billion, with growth projected to reach just under $202 billion by 2034, according to the independent market research firm Global Market Insights.
Archbishop Caccia also stressed that surrogacy is a "quite sensitive" issue, with many viewing it as a "compassionate solution for those wishing to be parents."
But he cautioned "the whole context must be taken into account in assessing whether this practice is compatible with respect for the dignity and rights of women and children."
The demand for surrogacy-born children "already exceeds supply," the archbishop noted. But he observed that many women opt to become surrogates due to financial need, bearing children for wealthy clients -- a dynamic that is not "happenstance."
He noted that in some cases women face coercion, even from family members, to become surrogates, with impoverished women especially likely to lack access to legal and medical resources to counter such pressures.
"One must question whether the surrogacy industry could survive if poverty were eradicated," he said, noting that women afforded "social protection, education, and economic opportunity" would likely forego becoming surrogates.
Legal regulation alone does not eliminate the moral and ethical ills of surrogacy, he said.
Where the practice is legal, "potential surrogates may find themselves in a perverse competition for commissioning parents," he said. But in many cases where it is prohibited, he said, "reasonable compensation for costs or 'gifts' (could) disguise payments."
He applauded a March decision by the Hague Conference on Private International Law to halt for the moment its pursuit of a convention on legal parentage under surrogacy arrangements.
Surrogacy also stands to isolate women from their families -- either physically, in cases where clients impose such a requirement, or emotionally as they navigate their pregnancy amid questions from their children as to "why mother is not keeping this baby," said the archbishop.
Surrogacy also negates the moral right of children "to be created in an act of love" as well as the "right to know and be cared for by their parents," a right enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, said Archbishop Caccia.
He quoted Pope Leo's January 9 address to Vatican-accredited diplomats, in which the pope warned that surrogacy violates the dignity of both the mother and the child, "exploiting" a woman's body and reducing the child to a "product."
Archbishop Caccia concluded his address by saying the Holy See was "heartened" by the U.N. side event and hoped it would lead toward ending surrogacy in all its forms and at all levels to protect women and children from exploitation and violence."
