An article by Professor Roberto Massaro, published on the Alfonsiana Academy blog
Among the current challenges in bioethics, we cannot fail to include the practice of surrogacy (= surrogacy). This topic will be discussed in Module II of the Bioethics Conference of the Alfonsiana Academy (Rome, March 17-18, 2026) . Professor Susy Zanardo of the European University of Rome will speak to us about it.
Let’s try to offer some initial suggestions on the topic…
Much criticism of surrogacy focuses on its commercial dimension, based on a contract that regulates the use of a woman’s body for reproductive purposes. This practice often poses the risk of renewed exploitation, part of a long history of subordination of the female body to patriarchal logic.
To evaluate it responsibly, it is necessary to consider the social and economic context in which the choices of pregnant women mature. As Luisa Muraro observes, ’’many reasons and circumstances of human reproduction by proxy are visible to the naked eye. There is the desire to generate, frustrated by sterility, the power of money over those who have little, the power of money in those who have a lot, the presence of a global market, the facilities offered by reproductive technologies» [1] .
In countries where the practice is regulated, women often agree to limit their autonomy, delegating decisions about pregnancy to their clients. Elsewhere, such as in poverty-stricken contexts, many resort to it out of economic necessity. In both cases, a tension emerges between formal freedom and real constraints.
A crucial question then remains open: when the body becomes the object of a contract, can we still speak of authentic self-determination, or are we faced with a fragile freedom, marked by the weight of inequalities?
However, when surrogacy is understood altruistically, does the ethical judgment remain the same? In the absence of financial compensation, it appears to many as a gesture of solidarity rather than a practice of exploitation…
Some scholars, like Rosemary Tong, propose comparing it to adoption, suggesting similar legal regulation. Others suggest viewing it in analogy with forms of gratuitous donation, such as the so-called “Samaritan transplant,” in which a person offers part of themselves for the benefit of a stranger.
These interpretations do not resolve all the issues, but they indicate a possible way to understand non-commercial surrogacy as an expression of responsibility, care, and generosity, opening up new spaces for reflection in the ethical debate.
The controversy, as can be seen, is quite heated and complex. Susy Zanardo, however, in an article that appeared a few years ago in the magazine Aggiornamenti sociali, expresses doubts about both forms of surrogacy: «In this profound transformation of generation, the uniqueness of the maternal relationship is broken, on the one hand, and the uniqueness of the relationship between the father and the mother of the child, on the other. Surrogacy occurs precisely through the planning of the interruption of the uniqueness of the maternal and parental relationships. The interruption is its condition of possibility. There is no other way of becoming a mother (or father) than by breaking a parental bond. In this way, its specific difference from adoption can be understood: if adoption intervenes to repair a lack that has occurred, surrogacy causes the interruption» [2] .
Therefore, some questions arise for our conference: is the reference to self-determination sufficient to justify the practice of commercial surrogacy? Or, perhaps, does it always and in every circumstance conceal a form of social injustice against women? In the case of altruistic surrogacy, however, is the reference to giving sufficient? Don’t we run the risk of forgetting that pregnancy is an experience that fully involves the woman, not only physically, but also psychologically, hormonally, and—according to some recent studies—even neurally?
A small “appetizer” of a discussion that promises to be rich, dynamic and full of new ideas… one more reason to seriously think about registering as soon as possible [ link to the form to formalize online registration ].
[1] L. Muraro, The Soul of the Body. Against Surrogacy , La Scuola, Milan 2016, 11.
[2] S. Zanardo, «Is surrogate motherhood a form of hospitality?», in Aggiornamenti sociali 4 (2017) 309-317 [here 312].
