(Newswire.net — December 28, 2019) — BRUSSELS, EU – Brussels has hosted a trade show named after the organizing agency Men Having Babies, which mediates the “sale – purchase” of babies and children to male gay couples. The show was organised in september 2019 but it may be censored under a new law that is planed in 2020.
The luxurious Hilton Hotel in Brussels once again welcomed rich men, who were browsing catalogs of children (photographs), to decide which child to buy from the so-called surrogate mothers who would sign a contract which obligates them to give up their babies.
The assembly held in September in Bruseless is getting media attention after numerous claims that it openly promotes surrogacy which is being called “a form of prostitution” by people offended by the idea. To many gay couples it is a way to fulfill their dreams of parenthood.
Among other statements, the agenda of the assembly reads: “Lunch and gay parenting resource fair – tables of surrogacy and adoption agencies, clinics, lawyers and community organizations. (sponsored by San Diego Fertility Center)”. By “resource fair”, the organizer is offering children directly from the catalogs.
“A selection of egg cell and sperm donors are offered, depending on the characteristics that the ordering parents want for their future child,” Brussels Times quoted one of the protesters who rallied against the conference.
The price of babies is increasing with each subsequent fair, so four years ago the lowest price for a baby was $ 60,000. The prices at the recent fair ranged from the lowest going for $ 95,000 all the way to the most expensive costing $ 160,000. According to www.brusselstimes.com, the cost of a child carried by a surrogate mother, including administrative costs, ranges from € 80,000 to € 150,000 ($90.000 – &170.000).
The deal may also include additional packages such as legal aid, sex cell insurance, psychological support, surrogate mother insurance, all the way to flights and hotels in countries where the single mothers will give birth.
Surrogacy is widely recognized as salvation for couples that are not able to have their own children. However, many believe it represents a morality issue and even a form of prostitution. According the objectnow.org article, there are at least 10 reasons surrogacy is like prostitution:
1. Objectification of Women’s Bodies
2. Dissociation: Splitting of Mind and Body
3. Poor Women are Exploited
4. Men Profit
5. Publicized as Glamorous
6. The Right To Use Women
7. Reinforces Sex Roles (‘Gender’)
8. Physical Harm
9. Psychological Harm
10. Barrier To Women’s Liberation; Harms ALL Women
Some EU countries like Sweden took a firm stand against surrogacy. Official government inquiry on surrogacy concluded that surrogacy is indeed a form of abuse and suggests banning both altruistic and commercial surrogacy. Also, the government is taking steps to prevent their citizens from going to clinics abroad to simply go around the legal issues regarding surrogacy laws.
The major objections to the Swedish report have come from male gay couples that argue if a woman wants to be a surrogate, it is by her choice and every woman should practice freedom to choose to be a surrogate mother.
This claims, however, has been disputed by the fact that it is not exactly the freedom of choice but in fact an exploration of a poor female members of society who decide to sell body for cash, which is a plain prostitution.