Polish bishops denounce surrogacy as incompatible with Christian doctrine

At the end of August, the bioethics commission of the Polish Episcopal Conference released a declaration that surrogacy, in its essence, conflicts with Catholic teaching. Auxiliary bishop Józef Wróbel signed the document, which stresses four major breaches of human dignity, including the moral problems of artificial insemination and the treatment of children and mothers as trade goods. The bishops note that surrogacy relies on artificial fertilisation, bringing genetic, developmental and psychological consequences, and that guarantees of healthy babies can result in eugenic abortions of flawed embryos.

They reference a recent case in California where a couple seeks $100,000 from a surrogate who refused to abort a child with health issues. The statement concludes that the desire for children does not confer a right to treat them as property and calls on Polish authorities to block citizens from ordering surrogacy services and to curb companies offering them in Poland.