Professor Deirdre Madden:

I do not have the information on Sweden to hand but, as I said in my earlier answer, there are a number of jurisdictions that have gone that route of banning surrogacy entirely. My response to that is that it will not work. People will still engage in surrogacy but they will engage in international surrogacy arrangements rather than domestic surrogacy arrangements.

Regarding whether there should be a policy of discouraging surrogacy, I do not believe there should be. I do not see any evidence of harm arising from surrogacy in the research I have been carrying out over the past 30 years. There is no evidence of harm in the studies that have been done of surrogate mothers, of intended parents or of children. It has been shown to be a positive way of creating and helping to build families for people who otherwise cannot do that. I do not see any reason to discourage it.