Life
The European Federation of Catholic Family Associations welcomes the decision taken by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe yesterday, which rejected the surrogacy report “Human Rights and ethical issues related to surrogacy” – submitted by Belgian gynaecologist Petra De Sutter – during its plenary session.
A press release by President of FAFCE Antoine Renard says: “A really ambiguous text was rejected, unclear on how to really defend children’s rights, or how to oppose surrogacy: the attempts made to legitimate this practice were not successful in any of the stages of this long procedure”. The decision made by the Council of Europe yesterday puts an end to a “complex procedure started two years ago”. The Federation welcomes this decision as the confirmation that “the voices of citizens and NPOs may be heard”. In this respect, Antoine Renard says: “It is the result of a joint effort of many members of the Assembly and the voices of several organisations” working together to draw the attention of public opinion on a draft which “might have been approved silently, paving the way to all kinds of surrogacy”. On the other hand, the following debate confirmed that “the rights of children cannot be separated from the dignity of women and other people involved in the practice of surrogacy”. The voting results are now published on-line, and everyone will be able to see how their representatives in Strasburg voted on this important issue.
