Did you know that a year ago, 100 brave pro-women and pro-life heroes from 75 countries stood together and signed a document that changed the course of human rights?
The "Declaration of Casablanca” seeks to eliminate the unjust practice of surrogacy worldwide, condemning it in every form—whether compensated or not. It calls upon nations to take decisive action, implementing all possible measures to combat this exploitative phenomenon.
As you might expect, CitizenGO proudly stands among the signatories.
This year, on April 5-6, professors, politicians, jurists, journalists, and experts from around the world gathered in Rome to make the declaration a global reality.
Elites would have you believe that surrogacy is about helping people. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. How can a woman’s body be placed under a binding contract? How could democratic societies allow this exploitation to continue in 2024!?
Surrogacy turns women and their children into products for rich and powerful people to control at their whim. Is it acceptable for a child to become a pawn in a contractual game before it’s even had its first breath?
It is a simple truth—one that resonates deeply—that a child should not be brought into this world to fulfill the desires of adults. Rather, every child deserves to be nurtured, protected, and raised in the loving embrace of their mother and father.
Thankfully, this isn’t a partisan issue. Christians and radical feminists, who usually find themselves on opposing sides of political debates, now find common ground in vehemently denouncing a practice that commodifies women's bodies and strips away their dignity.
I wish you could have been there in Rome to hear the speakers sharing the actual, devastating costs of surrogacy. The most moving testimony came from Olivia Maurel, the spokesperson for the Declaration of Casablanca.
All her life, Olivia desperately searched for the root cause of her anxiety over being abandoned by those who said they loved her.
Finally, she discovered it all traced back to her separation from the mother who had nurtured her within the safety of the womb for nine months. She’d been a baby girl, born in surrogacy, denied the God-given right to be with her birth mother by a cruel system.
Olivia, now a 32-year-old woman, happily married with three children, has found her calling in exposing the harms of surrogacy and defending the rights of women and children worldwide.
But she can’t win the fight alone. That’s why CitizenGO is committed to opposing surrogacy and petitioning for it to become a universal crime. We must raise our voices, resoundingly declaring that children cannot be bought and sold, and women's bodies must never be violated through the practice of surrogacy.
Thousands of concerned people like you have already signed these petitions and are raising their voices for those who can’t speak for themselves. Thankfully, the Catholic Church has joined in as well.
The recent document by the Dicastery of the Faith "Dignitas Infinita" courageously condemned this practice.
Though it garnered little media attention, Pope Francis himself firmly declared: "I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child [...] Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally."
The Holy Father's resolute appeal fills us with joy and renews our hope as we continue the fight against surrogacy. His words stand as a constant reminder that any assault on human dignity must be deplored and actively combated.
It is the duty of every pro-faith, pro-family, and pro-woman citizen to stand together until it is finally abolished.
Thank you for standing with us, and with every woman and child at risk because of this unjust system.
Here’s a link where you can read more about the Rome Conference and how citizens like you are ending this injustice, one signature, one petition, and one law at a time.
I will keep you updated about ways you can get further involved in this fight and any new petitions that you can sign to help end this injustice once and for all. Sincerely, Matilde Giunti
CitizenGO is a community of active citizens that works to ensure that human life, the family and our freedoms are respected worldwide. CitizenGO members live in every nation of the world. Our team is spread across 16 countries on 5 continents and operates in 12 languages. Learn about CitizenGO here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Bild: "Bonte Kerk" Lieberhausen, near Gummersbach, in east of Cologne
