Abortion and surrogacy violate women’s rights – Ordo Iuris statement to the UN

The Ordo Iuris Institute, holding consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), has presented its position for the upcoming, seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The Institute emphasizes that the full protection of the rights of women and girls requires respect for the inherent dignity of every human being and the right to life from conception to natural death. The session will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from March 9-20, 2026.

Ordo Iuris experts point out that contemporary social policy trends promoting abortion as an alleged manifestation of women’s emancipation actually undermine their rights and safety. Abortion, being the deliberate taking of a human life, remains—as the Institute reminds us—at odds with the principles of equality and justice, as well as with the universally recognized right to life, confirmed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ordo Iuris demonstrates that so-called sex-selective abortions and eugenic abortions constitute a particularly egregious violation of women’s rights. In many regions of the world, especially in South Asia, girls still fall victim to prenatal selection. Data from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicate that the global number of so-called “missing women” has exceeded 140 million. In India and China, this practice leads to dramatic demographic imbalances, increased violence against women, human trafficking, and systemic discrimination.

At the same time, many countries permit abortion in cases of suspected disability of the child, which, as the Ordo Iuris Institute’s experts emphasize, constitutes blatant discrimination on the basis of health status. Such regulations reinforce social stereotypes regarding the supposedly “lesser value” of the lives of people with disabilities. Ordo Iuris recalls that, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, every child, regardless of health status, has the right to the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.

The Institute also points to positive examples of countries, such as Poland, that, by limiting eugenic grounds, seek to provide genuine support for women and children, in the spirit of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. which promote equality by strengthening the role of the family.

Ordo Iuris experts note that policies redefining the concept of “woman” detached from biological reality weaken the protection of women’s rights. In sports, where physiological differences between the sexes remain significant, allowing men who identify as women to compete in women’s categories threatens the principle of equal opportunity and the safety of female athletes. Ordo Iuris recalls that biological facts form the foundation for the protection of women’s rights, which follows, among other things, from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, from 1979).

The Ordo Iuris Institute unequivocally opposes the practice of surrogacy, which it describes as a form of contemporary objectification of women and child trafficking. Experts cite the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women (A/80/158, 2025), which recognizes surrogacy as a phenomenon inextricably linked to exploitation and violence against women and girls. Ordo Iuris urges UN member states to take steps toward adopting a binding international legal instrument prohibiting all forms of surrogacy, both commercial and so-called altruistic. As the Institute emphasizes, no economic or emotional considerations can justify practices that reduce a child and a woman to the role of a commodity.

In its position statement, Ordo Iuris recalls that true equality for women means the freedom to choose one’s life path, including the decision about motherhood. Meanwhile, contemporary “equality” policy trends often marginalize the role of mothers, placing professional careers above family. Ordo Iuris notes that UN documents, including the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the CEDAW Convention, oblige states to protect motherhood as a social function requiring special support.

The Institute advocates introducing measures that support women who choose motherhood, including extended parental leave, flexible employment arrangements, expanded family benefits, and the promotion of family-friendly policies that support a harmonious balance between work and family life. As experts point out, the lack of a real choice between career and family leads to the de facto enslavement of women, who must submit to a model imposed by the labor market and consumer culture.

In the conclusion of the document, the Ordo Iuris Institute formulates specific recommendations for UN member states, including:

• adoption of declarations affirming the right to life from conception and a ban on selective and eugenic abortions;
• ensuring equality in sports by maintaining women’s categories exclusively for biologically female athletes;
• establishing international standards prohibiting surrogacy;
• introducing comprehensive family support programs, including tax relief, perinatal benefits, and the promotion of adoption;
• developing flexible work arrangements that enable women to balance family and professional responsibilities;
• ensuring universal access to prenatal care and health education.

The Ordo Iuris Institute reminds us that equality between women and men cannot be pursued at the expense of the most vulnerable: unborn children, people with disabilities, or women themselves, who become victims of ideological projects that undermine their dignity.

“True equality for women requires protecting their inherent dignity, not promoting practices that violate that dignity. Phenomena such as abortion, surrogacy, or the redefinition of womanhood essentially undermine women’s rights and their safety. We hope that the voice of Poland and organizations working to protect life will be fully heard during the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women,” notes Julia Książek of the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law.

Source of cover photo: iStock