We cannot regard surrogacy as a gesture of freedom or love.
In Italy the practice is illegal, but in our world the ‘elsewhere’ is here: Italian “customers” can choose from various countries to find a woman’s belly that will “carry” a child for them. We cannot accept – simply because it is technically possible, and in the name of alleged individual rights – that women should once again become disposable objects – objects that are no longer at the disposal of the patriarchy, but of the market. We want surrogacy to be banned.
Today, for the first time in history, motherhood and freedom go together. A woman can choose to be or not to be a mother. Motherhood, when freely chosen and not suffered, is a path to a richer idea of freedom, of humanity itself: the life journey shared by a woman and her future child is an extraordinary adventure. Children are not objects to be sold or “donated”. If they are deliberately separated from the history that gave them life and remains their own, children become disposable goods.
We are in favour of the full recognition of civil rights for lesbian and gay people, but we say to everyone, including heterosexuals: the desire to have children cannot become a right to be vindicated at all costs.
We Address Europe
No human being can be reduced to a means [to an end]. Our outlook on the world and on humanity is shaped by this fundamental principle of European civilization.
We want to address the European institutions – the European Council, Commission and Parliament – to ask that surrogacy be outlawed in Europe and banned on a global level.