The European Parliament lists "the exploitation of surrogate motherhood" as an act of human trafficking

The new directive now includes forced marriage, illegal adoption and the exploitation of surrogate motherhood alongside slavery and prostitution. The aim of this amendment is to encourage Member States to adopt effective measures to "combat and prevent human trafficking and provide better support for victims". In the wording "exploitation of surrogate motherhood" finally adopted, the term "exploitation" leaves room for doubt as to the types of surrogate motherhood covered by the directive. The text of the directive targets "persons who force women to act as surrogate mothers or who trick them into doing so". The legislator is therefore free to interpret what is meant by "deception" as he sees fit, especially as surrogacy is a matter for national law. As the text emphasises, these rules are "without prejudice to national rules on surrogate motherhood, including criminal or family law".

An encouraging but incomplete measure 

For Aude Mirkovic, senior lecturer in law, this is nonetheless a step forward insofar as, for the first time at European level, "it is a directive, in other words a binding international legal text, which explicitly qualifies 'the exploitation of surrogate motherhood' as a form of trafficking". However, the directive specifies that trafficking does not concern children in surrogate motherhood, "unless the surrogate mother is a child". Yet, as Aude Mirkovic points out, "whether paid or unpaid, it doesn't matter, the child is the subject of an act of disposal, the prerogative par excellence of the owner". The founder of “Juristes pour l'enfance” (Lawyers for childhood) also points out that this state of disposal makes it possible to define slavery in international conventions. The testimony of people born to surrogate mothers, like that of Olivia Maurel, clearly confirms that surrogate motherhood constitutes a violation of their rights and interests. As spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration, Olivia Maurel is now campaigning alongside an international coalition for the universal abolition of surrogacy. 

This demand therefore seems necessary if we are to effectively combat this new form of human trafficking, which crosses national and European borders. The European Union is taking small steps in this fight, but in an incoherent way, since at the same time it is examining a proposal for a regulation on a European parenthood certificate. This certificate would oblige all Member States to recognise the filiation of every child established in another Member State, regardless of how it was established, including through surrogate motherhood.