Surrogacy is a crime in Nigeria

A Nigerian lawyer, Sunny Ekwuwusi, has warned that surrogacy is a crime under Nigerian law.

Speaking on a morning show on Arise TV, the lawyer revealed that placing a woman’s sperm and egg into another woman’s uterus is called ‘Womb Renting’.

The human rights lawyer emphasized that it is a violation of a woman’s identity under the law.

To support his claim, he cited Section 30 of the Child Act, which states that anyone involved in buying, selling or exchanging children is against the law.

The lawyer believes that this will eventually lead to child trafficking, and if not properly attended to, it usually ends up in what we now call ‘baby factory’.

A study by The Lancet Global Health found that around 40 million women aged 15 to 49 suffer from health problems due to a range of birth problems, one of which is surrogacy.

According to UNICEF, Nigeria is responsible for 10% of the world’s childbirth-related deaths.

Also read: Pope calls for a global ban on surrogacy

Although he stated that there is no specific law that punishes IVF in Nigeria but condemns the act as it falls under the same category as surrogacy.

“IVF also has to do with the trade in embryos, eggs and the like. It is okay to solve the social problem of people wanting babies,” Ekwuwusi said.

“But when you look at the exploitative nature of it, especially the woman involved, it’s appalling.”

The Guardian reported that the Pope is pushing for a global ban on surrogacy in his New Year’s speech at the Vatican.

He said: “the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be oppressed or made into an object of human trafficking.

“In this regard, I consider deplorable the practice of so-called surrogacy, which represents a serious violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.

“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract. Therefore, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to universally ban this practice.”