Regulating Commercial Global Surrogacy: the Best Interests of the Child

Concurrent with the decline in intercountry adoption, there has been an increase in commercial global surrogacy over the past decade, but no international law yet exists to reconcile conflicting national laws and protect the interests of infant/child, surrogate mother, and commissioning parent(s). Previous discussion has focused on the vulnerability of the surrogate mothers and insufficient attention has been given to the best interests of the child, despite the fact that some children have been left stateless for years as a result of conflicting policies. Using the principles of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, social workers and policy makers should advocate for the development of international law to regulate commercial global surrogacy in order to prevent children’s rights violations and act in the best interests of the child.