Conclusions

Abstract

AbstractThis conclusive chapter offers a few proposals to contribute to the necessary overcoming of the current polarization in the debate: adult-centric arguments could be renovated by focusing on the child as the protagonist of reproduction and representative of tomorrow’s humanity; adult participation in surrogacy could be understood as the result of decision-making influenced by social values of self-determination, with any support or condemnation of surrogacy being grounded on considerations about the social impact of surrogacy and child’s protection and not on the immediate personal benefits that it gives to the adults; the ideal goal of eliminating surrogacy can coexist with pragmatic restrictive regulatory initiatives; monitoring both the surrogates and children’s health and well-being, along with the quantification of surrogacy births are priority objectives to be achieved regardless of prohibitionist or regulatory orientations; inform women who are targets of recruitment about medical and legal risks and individual as well as social implications of surrogacy for their life and for children; single issue campaigns focused on the child and woman’s health can offer platforms of dialogue and mobilization for social movements which on other themes (e.g. abortion, same-sex couples parenting, and women empowerment) have different and even opposing views.