Russian Church decries surrogacy at Council of Europe

Hegumen Philip (Riabykh)

(Pravoslavie) - April 26, 2012 in Strasbourg, in the spring session of the PA Assembly of the Council of Europe conference "Surrogacy: violation of human rights."

The main point of discussion was the report, "Surrogate Motherhood: a human rights violation", prepared by the European Centre for Law and Justice. The document refers to the violation of women's rights arising from their commercial exploitation, but also due to the difficulty in determining parental rights, because in the process of conception, pregnancy and child-rearing may be involved in up to 6 people (two donor gametes, a surrogate mother, her husband, "legal" parents of the child).

In addition, the document stresses the problem of subsequent self-identification of a child born to a surrogate mother, and his mental health. The report also provides specific human rights violations related to surrogacy.

In discussing the report of the Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Abbot Philip (Ryabykh) said that despite the existence of laws that permit "surrogate" motherhood in Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Church does not accept this method of reproduction, as discussed in the Fundamentals its social concepts in the section "Problems of bioethics."

Alternatively, Abbot Philip offered infertile couples turn to women wishing to have an abortion: having adopted children of such women, people not only can have long awaited a child, but also to save his life and will save his mother from the sin of infanticide.

European People's Party faction in the PACE invited the deputies of the inter-parliamentary organizations signed the declaration in which surrogacy is recognized human rights violation and humiliation of human dignity. The signing of this document is open to the summer session of PACE. Declaration has been signed by about a hundred people, the site representative of the Russian Church in Strasbourg .

The relevance of the conference is related to the preparation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recommendations on the rights and legal status of children and parental responsibility, which includes provisions to recognize the legitimacy of surrogate motherhood. In addition, currently before the European Court of Human Rights are two claims of French citizens to recognize their parental rights to children born to surrogate mothers in the United States.

The conference was organized by the European Centre for Law and Justice, in collaboration with several European NGOs, and with the support of the European People's Party faction in the PACE.

In the discussion of surrogate motherhood attended Abbot Philip (Ryabykh), a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, as well as the permanent observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe, Monsignor Aldo Giordano, and a number of diplomats, MPs and public figures from various European countries.

The main speakers were the head of the European People's Party faction in the PACE Luca Volonte (Italy), a lawyer Jeanne Payot (France) and leader of the center of "Caring for Europe," David Fildsend (Belgium).

The conference provides information on the legal status of surrogacy in various European countries. In the vast majority of the Council of Europe, it is prohibited. Surrogacy is permitted in Armenia, Great Britain, Greece, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine. However, only in the UK surrogate mother after the birth is entitled to keep the child on the basis of the natural connection that arose during pregnancy and childbirth, in all other countries that allow surrogacy, the surrogate mother must give up their parental rights before the baby is born.