Francis’ characterization of surrogacy “couldn’t be further from the truth,” Sunshine Hanson, founder of surrogacy agency Surrogacy Is, told NPR.
What are the potential consequences of Pope Francis’ call for a ban on surrogacy?
Francis called the practice ‘despicable’ and a ‘commercialization’ of pregnancy.
Pope Francis may have made waves with his announcement that priests would be allowed to bless same-sex couples, an extraordinarily liberal view for the leader of the Catholic Church, but his latest comments on surrogacy are drawing some criticism for being unnecessarily restrictive.
During an address, Francis said surrogacy turns children into “an object of [human] trafficking.” Calling for a worldwide ban on the practice, Francis added that surrogacy was “deplorable” and “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”
