{"id":19043,"date":"2017-04-01T22:02:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T22:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy-71165\/"},"modified":"2017-04-01T22:02:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-01T22:02:00","slug":"in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/","title":{"rendered":"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pregnant_Credit_UnSplash_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSe Non Ora Quando,\u201d a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy \u201cincompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2017\/03\/left-wing-feminists-conservative-catholics-unite\/520968\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>according to the Atlantic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers.<\/p>\n<p>Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman's womb.<\/p>\n<p>While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party.<\/p>\n<p>The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSurrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,\u201d the document reads. It further called the practice a \u201cdetriment\u201d to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing \u201cphysical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women's dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,\u201d said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/feminist-party-in-spain-denounces-surrogate-mother-fair-37342\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>protested<\/strong><\/a> a local surrogacy fair in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations' parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which \u201cundermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.\u201d World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries.<\/p>\n<p>Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the \u201cSe Non Ora Quando\u201d conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,\u201d and they experience \u201cpoverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,\u201d Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She also explained that these \u201cmothers who do not claim rights\u201d are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled.<\/p>\n<p>Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a \u201cseparation trauma\u201d leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSe Non Ora Quando,\u201d means \u201cIf not now, when?\u201d The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=SAObF9uzU0M:RS2q0EBYdYY:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/SAObF9uzU0M\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pregnant_Credit_UnSplash_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2017\/03\/left-wing-feminists-conservative-catholics-unite\/520968\/\"><strong>according to the Atlantic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers.<\/p>\n<p>Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman&#8217;s womb.<\/p>\n<p>While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party.<\/p>\n<p>The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women&#8217;s dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/feminist-party-in-spain-denounces-surrogate-mother-fair-37342\/\"><strong>protested<\/strong><\/a> a local surrogacy fair in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations&#8217; parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries.<\/p>\n<p>Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops&#8217; newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled.<\/p>\n<p>Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=SAObF9uzU0M:RS2q0EBYdYY:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/SAObF9uzU0M\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; according to the Atlantic. The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman&#039;s womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women&#039;s dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations&#039; parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops&#039; newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; according to the Atlantic. The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman&#039;s womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women&#039;s dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations&#039; parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops&#039; newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pregnant_Credit_UnSplash_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/\",\"name\":\"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; according to the Atlantic. The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman's womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women's dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations' parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. 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The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman's womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women's dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations' parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy","og_description":"Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; according to the Atlantic. The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman's womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women's dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations' parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pregnant_Credit_UnSplash_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/","name":"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-01T22:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Rome, Italy, Apr 1, 2017 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Reproductive issues often leave Catholics and secular feminists at odds, but a recent anti-surrogacy conference in Rome has created an unusual camaraderie between the two. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; a feminist group known for its left-wing views, called surrogacy &ldquo;incompatible with human rights and with the dignity of women,&rdquo; according to the Atlantic. The conference met last Thursday at a lower House of Parliament in Rome. Women intellectuals, doctors, and scholars from all over the world, pleaded with the United Nations to ban European citizens from traveling abroad to procure surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby to term for a third party, often involving payment. The pregnancy is achieved by in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg is fertilized in a lab then placed into the woman's womb. While the practice is legal in Canada and most of the United States, regulations vary depending on the state. Surrogacy is banned, however, in almost all of Western Europe, including France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Some countries, such as England, do not enforce surrogate contracts and women are not required by law to give up the baby they bore for a third party. The Catholic Church opposed surrogacy in Donum Vitae, a document on biomedical issues written in 1987. &ldquo;Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love,&rdquo; the document reads. It further called the practice a &ldquo;detriment&rdquo; to the family and the dignity of the person by divorcing &ldquo;physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.&rdquo; In recent years, left-wing feminists have actively opposed surrogacy in countries like Spain and France, claiming it as an attack against women's dignity, especially as an injustice to the poor. They have compared surrogacy to prostitution, and the expressed their concern for its promotion of human trafficking. &nbsp; &ldquo;The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,&rdquo; said the Spain-based Feminist Party, who protested a local surrogacy fair in 2016. The United Nations' parliament condemned surrogacy in 2015, labeling it as a practice which &ldquo;undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.&rdquo; World leaders have also identified a high of surrogate mothers are poor women in third world countries. Sheela Saravanan gave her testimony to the &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando&rdquo; conference last week, detailing the struggle women are faced with in India. &ldquo;Our surrogate mothers are stressed physically and mentally even if they receive money,&rdquo; and they experience &ldquo;poverty, illiteracy, submissiveness,&rdquo; Saravanan said, according to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire. &nbsp; She also explained that these &ldquo;mothers who do not claim rights&rdquo; are subject to abortions if the baby is disabled. Many feminists have expressed concern that surrogacy not only coerces impoverished women, but has unhealthy side effects. The psychologist Fabio Castriota, told the conference that birth and motherhood are inseparable, and that a &ldquo;separation trauma&rdquo; leaves an impression on both the baby and the woman. &ldquo;Se Non Ora Quando,&rdquo; means &ldquo;If not now, when?&rdquo; The group emerged in response to what they view as the sexist treatment of women in the media. They are especially known for organizing the 2011 rally against then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced accusations of sleeping with an underage woman.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/04\/in-europe-catholics-and-feminists-unite-against-surrogacy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Europe, Catholics and feminists unite against surrogacy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}