An international campaign to ban surrogacy received a strong endorsement Friday from the Vatican, with a top official calling for a broad-based alliance to stop the 91裸聊视频渃ommercialization of life91裸聊视频� catering to wealthy would-be parents.

A Vatican-affiliated university hosted a two-day conference promoting an international treaty to outlaw surrogacy, based on the campaigners91裸聊视频� argument that the practice violates U.N. conventions protecting the rights of the child and surrogate mother.

At issue is whether there is a fundamental right to have a child, at any cost, or whether the rights of children trump the desires of potential parents.

The conference, which also drew U.N. human rights representatives and experts, marked an acceleration of a campaign that has found some support in parts of the developing world and western Europe. At the same time, Canada and the United States are known for highly regulated arrangements that draw heterosexual and homosexual couples alike from around the world, while other countries allow surrogacy with fewer rules.

Pope Francis in January called for an , calling it a despicable violation of human dignity that exploits the surrogate mother91裸聊视频檚 financial need. On Thursday, Francis met privately with one of the proponents calling for a universal ban on surrogacy, Olivia Maurel, a 33-year-old mother of three.

Maurel was born in the U.S. in 1991 via surrogacy and attributes a lifetime of mental health issues to the 91裸聊视频渢rauma of abandonment91裸聊视频� she says she experienced at birth. She says she was separated from her biological mother and given to parents who had contracted with an agency in Kentucky after experiencing infertility problems when they tried to have children in their late 40s.

Maurel says she doesn91裸聊视频檛 blame her parents and she acknowledges there are 91裸聊视频渕any happy stories91裸聊视频� of families who use surrogate mothers. But she says that doesn91裸聊视频檛 make the practice ethical or right, even with regulations, since she said she was made to sacrifice 91裸聊视频渇or the desire of adults to have a child.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淭here is no right to have a child,91裸聊视频� Maurel told the conference at the LUMSA university. 91裸聊视频淏ut children do have rights, and we can say surrogacy violates many of these rights.91裸聊视频�

Monsignor Miloslaw Wachowski, undersecretary for relations with states in the Vatican secretariat of state, concurred, saying the practice reduces human procreation to a concept of 91裸聊视频渋ndividual will91裸聊视频� and desire, where the powerful and wealthy prevail.

91裸聊视频淧arents find themselves in the role of being providers of genetic material, while the embryo appears more and more like an object: something to produce 91裸聊视频� not someone, but something,91裸聊视频� he said.

He called for the campaign to ban the practice not to remain in the sphere of the Catholic Church or even faith-based groups, but to transcend traditional ideological and political boundaries.

91裸聊视频淲e shouldn91裸聊视频檛 close ourselves among those who think exactly the same way,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淩ather, we should open up to pragmatic alliances to realize a common goal.91裸聊视频�

The Vatican91裸聊视频檚 overall position, which is expected to be crystalized in a position paper Monday on human dignity, stems from its belief that human life begins at conception and must be given the consequent respect and dignity from that moment on. The Vatican also holds that human life should be created through intercourse between husband and wife, not in a petri dish, and that surrogacy takes in vitro fertilization a step further by 91裸聊视频渃ommercializing91裸聊视频� the resulting embryo.

As the conference was getting underway, Italy91裸聊视频檚 main gay family advocacy group, Rainbow Families, sponsored a pro-surrogacy rally to counter proposals by Italy91裸聊视频檚 hard-right-led government to to try to use surrogates abroad, even in countries where the practice is legal.

91裸聊视频淲e are families, not crimes,91裸聊视频� said banners held by some of the 200 or so participants, many of them gay couples who traveled abroad to have children via surrogate.

A 2004 law already banned surrogacy within Italy. The proposed law would make it illegal in Italy for citizens to engage a surrogate mother in another country, with prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.15 million) for convictions.

In the U.S., Resolve, the National Infertility Association, which advocates for people experiencing infertility problems, has criticized any calls for a universal ban on surrogacy as harmful and hurtful to the many people experiencing the 91裸聊视频渄isease of infertility.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淩esolve believes that everyone deserves the right to build a family and should have access to all family building options,91裸聊视频� Betsy Campbell, Resolve91裸聊视频檚 chief engagement officer, said in a telephone interview. 91裸聊视频淪urrogacy, and specifically gestational carrier surrogacy, is an option.91裸聊视频�

She said the U.S. regulations, which include separate legal representation for surrogate and the intended parents, and mental health and other evaluations, safeguard all parties in the process.

91裸聊视频淢ost people do not expect to have infertility or to need medical assistance to build their families,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淪o when non-medical people speak about IVF and surrogacy in a negative way, it can be very discouraging and make an already challenging journey all the more challenging.91裸聊视频�

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