IILAH SEMINAR SERIES: Surrogacy and the Right to Autonomy

Published 29 Apr 2015, 3:25 pm, by Chung Ung

The issue of commercial surrogacy is vexed and complex; giving rise to passionate arguments relating to the rights of the child conceived through surrogacy, the rights of the intended parent(s) and the rights of the surrogate. In the context of commercial surrogacy arrangements between surrogates in the developing world and intended parents in the developed world, the discussion frequently focuses on the rights of the surrogate as many people argue that such arrangements violate her human rights. In contrast, it may be argued that an outright prohibition on commercial surrogacy is itself an infringement of the right of a woman to choose to enter into such an arrangement. International human rights law enshrines the right to autonomy, also referred to as the right to privacy. More details on the IILAH website.

Ronli Sifris is a Lecturer in Monash University’s Faculty of Law and an Associate of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. Ronli’s expertise in human rights law ranges from domestic to international human rights, with a focus on reproductive rights. She has published widely on various aspects of reproductive rights, traversing matters relating to abortion, involuntary sterilisation and surrogacy. Her recent book, Reproductive Freedom, Torture and International Human Rights: Challenging the Masculinisation of Torture (2014, Routledge), conceptualises restrictions on reproductive freedom within the framework of torture discourse.

EVENT DETAILS

DATE Thursday, 30 April 2015

TIME 1.00 - 2.00pm

VENUE Room 920, Level 9, Melbourne Law School 185 Pelham Street Carlton

REGISTRATION Please complete the Registrations page.

ENQUIRIES Vesna Stefanovski, vesnas@unimelb.edu.au or (03) 8344 6589

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Institute for International Law and the Humanities IILAH