The Dutch government wants to forbid women to bear children for profit. But altruistic surrogacy should be made easier. Women will also be allowed to offer themselves in advertisements. “Something is going to shift.”
This said Minister Franc Weerwind of Legal Affairs (D66) on Friday afternoon. Any form of payment to a surrogate mother should become punishable, except reimbursement of expenses. This is currently not the case, as surrogacy is not regulated by law. Surrogate mothers can thus be rewarded with money or some other form of payment. But this must stop, Weerwind says. “There should simply be no trafficking in children.” That is why the government wants to criminalise commercial surrogacy. Both the asking party and the bidding party could be punished with prison sentences of up to two years.
