An Introduction to the Problems of Surrogacy and the Demands from Civil Society

Abstract

The images of 40 babies crammed into the Venice Hotel in Kiev, waiting to be picked up by their parents who are stuck in their countries due to the March/April 2020 lockdown, revealed to world public opinion the fallibility of the transnational system of surrogacy. By prolonging the time between leaving the surrogate’s body and delivery to the parents, the lockdown revealed in slow motion the unavoidable aspect of any surrogacy: the passage of a baby from one contractor to another. The Kiev case is used to introduce some of the most discussed controversies that revolve around the diffusion of transnational surrogacy, the limitation of national-based policy making, opposing demands coming from different social movements and challenges that surrogacy poses to society.