About surrogacy at the Czech Parliament - Olivia Maurel, born of surrogacy
Published 2023-11-30
On November 21, an international conference on surrogacy was held at the Parliament of the Czech Republic, on the initiative of three female members of parliament: Ms Romana Bělohlávková, Ms Nina Nováková and Ms Pavla Golasowská.
The first part was devoted to international speeches, including the following:
• Olivia Maurel, a young woman born of surrogate motherhood,
• Aude Mirkovic, lecturer in private law and member of the non-governmental organization « Juristes pour l’enfance »,
• Bernard Garcia, doctor of law and coordinator of the Casablanca Declaration.
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Olivia was born of a surrogacy performed by French parents in the United States. Based on her own story, she explains how she has always suffered from the wound of abandonment caused by the separation from her birth mother.
• For her, surrogacy is always harmful to the child, even in cases such as hers, where the surrogacy went « well » in terms of the criteria considered to be those of a « good » surrogacy: a surrogacy carried out in the United States, well-off intended parents able to provide their daughter with good educational conditions, no disputes either during the pregnancy or at birth between the surrogate mother and her intended parents.
• And yet, Olivia, the child born of this « successful » surrogacy, has suffered a lifetime of anxiety, depression and addiction caused by this abandonment, and now finds that the weight of this burden is being passed on to the next generation, not sparing her own children.
• Her message to members of parliament is clear: there is no such thing as a good surrogacy, and there is never any justification for forcing a child to be born in order to separate it from its birth mother.
• It doesn’t matter whether or not the birth mother is genetically linked to the child, because the child doesn’t have the capacity for this kind of reflection: the woman who bore him is the only one he knows, and separation leaves him with an unfathomable void that the intended parents are unable to fill, no matter how devoted they may be.
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Conférence internationale sur la GPA au Parlement tchèque
Le 21 novembre, s’est tenue au Parlement de la République Tchèque une conférence internationale sur la gestation pour autrui, sur l’initiative de trois femmes membres du Parlement : Madame Romana Bělohlávková, Madame Nina Nováková et Madame Pavla Golasowská.
La première partie était consacrée à des prises de paroles internationales, à l’occasion desquelles sont intervenus notamment:
• Olivia Maurel, une jeune femme née de gestation pour autrui,
• Aude Mirkovic, maître de conférences en droit privé et membre de l’organisation non gouvernementale Juristes pour l’enfance,
• Bernard Garcia, docteur en droit et coordinateur de la Déclaration de Casablanca.
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Olivia est née d’une GPA réalisée par des Français aux États-Unis. A partir de sa propre histoire, elle explique combien elle a toujours souffert de la blessure d’abandon causée par la séparation avec sa mère de naissance.
• La gestation pour autrui est pour elle toujours dommageable pour l’enfant, y compris comme dans son cas où la GPA s’est « bien passée » au regard des critères considérés comme ceux d’une « bonne » GPA : une GPA réalisée aux États-Unis, des parents d’intention aisés et en mesure de donner à leur fille de bonnes conditions d’éducation, aucun litige ni pendant la grossesse ni à la naissance entre la mère porteuse et ses parents d’intention.
• Et pourtant, Olivia, l’enfant née de cette GPA considérée comme un « succès », a souffert toute sa vie d’une angoisse d’abandon, elle a connu la dépression, les addictions et constate aujourd’hui que le poids de ce fardeau se transmet à la génération suivante et n’épargne pas ses propres enfants.
• Elle adresse aux députés un message clair : il n’existe pas de bonne GPA, il n’est jamais justifié d’imposer à l’enfant une naissance en vue de sa séparation de sa mère de naissance.
• Peu importe que la mère de naissance soit liée génétiquement ou non à l’enfant car l’enfant n’a pas la capacité de ce genre de réflexion : la femme qui l’a porté est la seule qu’il connait, et la séparation laisse en lui un vide insondable que les parents d’intention ne sont pas en mesure de combler, quel que soit leur dévouement.
All Comments (21)
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People should never be bought or sold.
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"First we approve the use of surrogacy for medical reasons, such as infertility, after we accept it for social reasons, and then we accept it for anything and everything." This right here.
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Thank you very much for sharing that valuable testimony! 😢❤
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Thank you so much Olivia for standing up and speaking
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This was very informative, emotional and insightful , it’s so true that so many celebrities do it for social reasons because they might not want to ruin their bodies… etc. Her perspective was raw and touching, really feel for her
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Thank you for your bravery and speaking so eloquently, very moving
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Thank you for your courage. People need to "follow the science," like everyone says. At family court, attorneys I work with argue that removing a child from the hospital to foster care causes trauma, so why is this allowed? Its still removing the child.
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Yes and amen
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Thanks Olivia for your brave testimony. We've translated this video to traditional Chinese, since Taiwanese progressive government is trying to take away almost all restrictions on the already existing loose surrogacy's regulations. On one side they aggressively promote abortion, but on the other side they blame the extremely low birth rate, so they came up with opening surrogacy regulations to raise the birth rate. What about helping traditional families?? No, thanks. That's they answer.
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I agree with her
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I first heard of Olivia Maurel from the one YouTuber. I brushed off her story as her blaming her alienation from her family on surrogacy (many kids feel alienated from their families). But this story here at the conference is a lot more compelling and mind blowing. Her surrogate mother’s situation is just heartbreaking. I feel like we need to interview the women who carry these babies for clients. And it was interesting to note that Olivia was closer to her father - a woman I knew who was a surrogate for an infertile couple (her friends), the client woman grew to resent the carrier during her pregnancy and I often wonder if the child inherently gets resented even after initially being wanted. The surrogate mother was able to detach quickly but I don’t think the friendship between the couples is the same anymore.
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6:24 we live in a dystopian hell
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I had severe problems as well and I’m not adopted or bought
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Ingratitude at its peak
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Children who directly suffer from the buying and selling of babies (surrogacy) should have the right to sue their "parents" and governments who allowed it to take place.
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Dianne Post wrote a great piece about the subversion of the language. The person who does the reproductive labor of gestation and parturition is the mother. At the very least, she is the gestational mother. The female who purchases the baby (even if she is also the egg donor) is the surrogate mom. I never say “surrogacy“. It should be called commercial gestation. I also never say “surrogate”. It may be offensive, but if she is not the gestational mom yet, she is a handmaid.
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This women is born from traditional surrogacy, not from gestational surrogacy, that is a huge difference ! And second point is that her parents kept secret this story. This is totally unusual, and probably the reason of her anger. This case is not representative.
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I don't understand. Yes, I think surrogacy is wrong, but she seems to blame her own bad life decisions on her mother. It doesn't sound plausible to me.
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Although her testimony is valuable, as others said, it's not representative. Obviously, her anger stems from her parents hiding the truth from her and not being honest and open. Usually, hiding leads to a feeling of shame, and there is nothing shameful about her or her story, its just unique.
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I don't agree with the concept that the biological mother is always a "real" mother. Parents are people who raise children, and very often adoptive parents are much better parents than the biological ones. Of course, keeping the story of birth a secret is a very bad idea. I really doubt that all children born of surrogacy are so profoundly traumatised.
