The Labour Party in the Mexican Parliament took the opportunity to present to the Chamber of Deputies its legislative proposal, aimed at incorporating surrogacy into the legal framework governing human trafficking in order to classify the practice as a form of reproductive exploitation.
Summary
After Casablanca in 2023, Rome in 2024 and Lima in 2025, it was Mexico City’s turn to host, on 3 and 4 September 2026, the 4th International Casablanca Conference for the Universal Abolition of Surrogacy.
For three days, Mexico City became a meeting point for international stakeholders committed to opposing surrogacy, bringing together experts, academics, political leaders, and activists around a common objective: advancing the universal abolition of this practice.
Among them, Olivia Maurel, spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration and an internationally recognised figure in this movement, gave voice to people born through surrogacy and called for an international response to a market that transcends national borders.
Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, opened the conference by recalling “the various manifestations of violence against women and girls in the context of surrogacy.”
On the eve of the 4th International Conference, at the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro, home to the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, Olivia Maurel spoke alongside Bernard Garcia (Ministerial Adviser to Chile), Ibone Olza (child and adolescent psychiatrist, perinatal psychiatrist and researcher), and other experts at a press conference held to mark the opening of the “International Forum on Human Rights and Surrogacy“. During this press conference, the Labour Party presented its legislative proposal to incorporate surrogacy into the legal framework governing human trafficking. The proposal has been formally registered with the Chamber of Deputies and is expected to be reviewed by the relevant committees and potentially submitted for approval in a plenary session.
The presence of Casablanca experts in the Mexican Parliament is particularly significant: it brings the issue of surrogacy into a national political and legislative debate, while also giving the discussions an international dimension.
2 September – Diplomatic and media meetings
Olivia Maurel met with members of the Mexican media and gave several interviews to major national media outlets, including Latinus and Heraldo Media Group.
She then took part in the press conference held at the Chamber of Deputies as part of the opening of the “International Forum on Human Rights and Surrogacy“. On this occasion, the Labour Party presented its legislative proposal aimed at including surrogacy within the legal framework governing human trafficking in order to classify the practice as a form of reproductive exploitation. During the press conference, experts stated that “Mexico is becoming the cheapest market for surrogacy.”
3 and 4 September – 4th International Casablanca Conference
Held at the Universidad Panamericana, Mixcoac Campus, in Mexico City, the 4th Conference of the Casablanca Declaration opened in Mexico with a call on the “Congreso de la Unión” (Mexico’s Federal Congress) to ban surrogacy throughout the country and classify it as a criminal offence, after nearly 12 years without legislative changes capable of preventing clinics and agencies specialising in this industry from continuing to operate.
Opened by Reem Alsalem, the conference featured a series of high-level speakers.
Jorge Cardona Llorens, a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, spoke about the implications of surrogacy for girls and boys born through this practice.
Patricia Olamendi Torres, Doctor of Law and former member of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, presented her work demonstrating that surrogacy constitutes a form of human trafficking.
Discussions continued on legislation across Latin America, legislative proposals relating to surrogacy, and the fundamental question of whether a so-called “right to a child” exists. The day concluded with presentations devoted to the consequences of surrogacy for the health of surrogate mothers and people born through the practice, as well as the moving testimony of a surrogate mother.
On 4 September, experts explored in greater depth the issues affecting children born through surrogacy, with presentations on their right to identity and the protection of their rights, before examining surrogacy through the lens of women’s reproductive exploitation and bioethics.
A highlight: Olivia Maurel’s testimony
The highlight of the second day was the testimony of Olivia Maurel, spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration and herself born through surrogacy.
Entitled, “I am speaking out to give visibility to the most vulnerable and least considered part of this practice: the children born through it,” her testimony placed the voices and rights of people born through surrogacy at the heart of the discussions.
The Declaration of Casablanca makes the following recommendations to the States
• Prohibit surrogacy on their territory
• Deny any legal validity to contracts bearing the undertaking from a woman to carry and deliver a child
• Punish individuals and corporations acting as intermediaries between the surrogacy mothers and the orderers
• Prosecute individuals who have recourse to a surrogate mother on their territory
• Prosecute their nationals who have recourse to a surrogate mother outside their territory
• Act in favor of the implementation of a legal instrument bearing global prohibition of the surrogacy.
For more information about the Casablanca Declaration:
www.declaration-surrogacy-casablanca.org
On Facebook : Declaration for the Universal Abolition of Surrogacy
On X: @CasaDeclaration
Email: contact@declaration-surrogacy-casablanca.org
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Press contact:
Priscille Braun, Secretary General of the Casablanca Experts Group/WhatsApp : +33 (0) 6 47 91 70 44/email : contact@declaration-surrogacy-casablanca.org
