UK surrogacy business accused of ‘unethical’ practices in Mexico

Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom (UK) are calling on the government to tighten laws surrounding commercial surrogacy due to a surrogacy business’s alleged unethical practices. A British business stands accused of setting up an overseas office in Mexico to take advantage of poverty-stricken women more likely to accept a reduced fee to act as surrogates.

According to the Daily Mail, the company My Surrogacy Journey has become the first British surrogacy business to move to Mexico, where it pays women just £12,000 (roughly $16,000). Comparatively, hiring a surrogate in the United States can cost as much as £250,000 (approximately $333,000).

In addition to the low cost, Mexico has also become a destination for surrogacy organizations because it allows pre-birth arrangements in which the birth mothers sign away their parental rights before the child is born, making it easier for the purchasing parents to bring their baby home. This differs from the UK, which prohibits commercial surrogacy and requires the birth mother to be listed as the child’s legal guardian. Surrogate parents are then required to apply to the court for a parental change.

READ: Surrogacy’s pitfalls: Heartbreaking stories of child abandonment

Helen Gibson, founder of the organization Surrogacy Concern, is speaking out about the unethical business practices of My Surrogacy Journey.

“We believe My Surrogacy Journey’s treatment of Mexican women is profoundly unethical,” she told the Daily Mail. “It also goes against what British surrogacy agencies are supposed to be: not-for-profit. Watching a British surrogacy agency set up a commercial outpost in a developing country is appalling. The Government should shut down this pipeline between Mexico and London.”

She added, “How is offering low-income women money to become surrogate mothers for wealthy Western couples and single men safe or ethical?”

Gibson’s organization was one of 13 advocacy groups which sent a letter to government officials last month warning of a “loophole” in the law that they say will usher commercial surrogacy into the country while exploiting low-income women.

“Demand for surrogacy is rapidly growing and we know of many such couples, and individuals, who will seek to pursue surrogacy more cheaply in lower cost destinations, whether deliberately illegally or not, in order to obtain a child at a cost they can more readily afford than is typical in jurisdictions such as California,” the letter writers said. “We expect the numbers of people pursuing surrogacy for children not genetically related to them will also increase, as the age profile of commissioning parents continues to rise, and the purchasing of already-created, genetically unrelated embryos for use in surrogacy grows in popularity.”