Mexico Resists Becoming Next Reproductive Tourism “Paradise”

MEXICO CITY – After countries such as India and Thailand restricted the “rent-a-womb” option for foreigners, Mexico is emerging as the next niche for this mode of reproduction and Congress is taking steps to prevent it.

Currently, only the states of Tabasco and Sinaloa have laws recognizing surrogate maternity, and there are legal loopholes in the legislation.

The Senate has passed a bill to amend the Health Act with the intention of regulating surrogate maternity.

The bill, still pending approval in the lower house of Congress, aims to make surrogate maternity accessible only to Mexican citizens and as a non-profit practice.

The proposal also makes surrogate pregnancy possible “only under strict medical prescriptions” for married couples with fertility problems, excluding same-sex couples and singles.

Mexico “doesn’t want to became the next reproductive tourism hot spot on the international scene” after restrictions in Asian countries sent people seeking surrogate mothers abroad, “tilting the international market toward Tabasco,” Marcelo Bartolini, an attorney for the Early Institute, told EFE.

Renting a womb in Mexico is three times cheaper than in the neighboring United...