Book review : International surrogacy agreements, legal regulation at the international level
Abstract
Should -and if so, how should -the international surrogacy market be regulated ? Is access to
cross-border surrogacy a right attaching to the free movement of persons, or a risk for women
in developing countries? Is this an issue of personal ethics or of global economics ? Arguments
pit personal autonomy against public policy; democracy against sovereignty; the right to a
child against the protection of women; anthropology against discrimination. The heated moral,
religious and political debates which in recent years have followed spectacular revolutions in
reproductive technology are naturally reflected in widely divergent national standpoints, of
which international surrogacy agreements - that is, between intended parents issuing (usually)
from a surrogacy-hostile jurisdiction and a surrogate in a surrogacy-friendly environment -have
become the focal point. [First paragraph]