Tell the Attorney-General: Prohibit Surrogacy in Australia.

Olivia Maurel was born through surrogacy. She has spent her life carrying the grief of being separated at birth from the only mother she had ever known. Today, she travels the world asking governments to stop what was done to her from being done to anyone else. She calls it “the slavery of our century.”

She is not alone. The United Nations’ own expert on violence against women has described surrogacy, paid and unpaid, as a system of exploitation and abuse, and called for its abolition. Italy has made it a crime. A global coalition of experts is calling for an international ban. And Australia is about to decide what it stands for.

On the 29th of July, the Australian Law Reform Commission hands its national review of surrogacy laws to the Attorney-General. Powerful lobbying groups are already pushing for surrogacy to be expanded and normalised, to make children available on demand, to anyone, regardless of what that means for the child or the woman who carries them.

Every surrogacy arrangement asks a woman to carry a child and hand that child away. Every one. Whether money changes hands or not, a newborn is separated at birth from their mother. No contract can make that right. A child is not a product. A mother is not a service. And Australia should not be in the business of licensing either.

Sign the petition and tell the Attorney-General: protect women and children. Prohibit surrogacy in Australia.