The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for ACR-PRACTICE-1

July 25, 2023, 10:44 a.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"[S]ome of the women have been released on bail on the condition that they continue the pregnancy and raise the surrogate children as their own until the children are 18 years old... [S]uch an obligation creates an additional financial and emotional burden on women who are in precarious situations, which led them to act as surrogates in the first place, and that they face discrimination and stigmatization by their families and communities for having acted as surrogates" (14).
July 25, 2023, 9 a.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"[The state party should a]ddress the root causes of women deciding to act as surrogates, such as poverty and the need to pay debts, by ensuring that women in situations of poverty have access to socioeconomic benefits, loans with favourable interest rates and decent income-generating opportunities... [In the] weak position of women acting as surrogates, [they suffer] deprivation of liberty and exploitation, as well as coercion, discrimination and violence against them" (15). Surrogacy is deemed bad in Cambodia (MV- coder comment).
June 18, 2023, 9:21 a.m.
Countries: Malta
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Malta’s laws mean that campaigners at least have nothing to lose.Women’s rights groups are increasingly organised. The word 'abortion' is no longer so taboo (conversations like ours would, she says, have been unimaginable even five years ago). Activists take succor, too, from the fact that legislation has been passed that will allow fetuses that are the result of IVF to be tested for nine life-threatening genetic diseases, including Huntingdon’s (though such embryos will not be destroyed). The language around this change has pushed the debate forwards" (Para.23).
May 23, 2023, 11:57 p.m.
Countries: China
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Liberalising IVF nationwide could unleash more demand for fertility treatment in what is already the world's biggest market, straining limited fertility services. Some investors in the industry see an opportunity to expand" (Para.7). "Gender power imbalances, the stigma in Chinese society that single pregnant women face, and the lack of social surveys make it difficult to quantify total demand and how much it would grow should the reforms be introduced in the near future, industry experts say" (Para.20). "Many Chinese women prefer clinics abroad if they are single, or if they want to do various genetic tests or choose the sex of the child, Caso said. A three-decade-old Chinese law...more
Feb. 18, 2023, 11:17 a.m.
Countries: Mexico
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Life is hard, but it’s nothing compared to 2020, when the pandemic left her husband without an income and a gang forced her family out of their home. With no money coming in, they survived on beans. Montalvo was desperate, so in February 2021, she opened Facebook on her phone and drafted a message. 'Hello,' she wrote in Spanish, in block letters against a peach background. 'I am available to rent my womb and make future parents happy.' "(Para.2-3). "Eight surrogacy agencies and ten couples seeking to hire a surrogate directly reached out, Montalvo said. Too distressed to investigate them properly, Montalvo picked the agency that pledged to move the...more
Dec. 9, 2022, 2:29 p.m.
Countries: China
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The government has also vowed to make infertility treatment more widely available to married women, by including reproductive technology in the country’s national medical system. In China, single women are not allowed to freeze their eggs and undergo in vitro fertilization, and are routinely denied care and services available to married women" (para 3).
March 9, 2022, 8:57 a.m.
Countries: Italy
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Pending the legislative development that will follow the decisions of the Constitutional Court, it is worthy of mention that, at the operational level, in Italy, there are 276 centres authorized by Regions to apply MAP techniques" (90).
Jan. 6, 2022, 12:09 p.m.
Countries: Somalia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Artificial and/or commerical reproduction are not practiced in Somalia" (1).
Aug. 14, 2021, 9:35 a.m.
Countries: Vietnam
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"For the past 13 years, N. and her husband have tried many ways to have children. The in vitro fertilization was successful, and two months later she miscarried again" (para 1). "On July 16th, Dr. Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, Director of Hung Vuong Hospital (HCMC) Ho Chi Minh City, said that the hospital has just welcomed a girl as the first surrogate pregnancy at this hospital" (para 2). "In 2014, the couple went to many hospitals and she was diagnosed with endometriosis in the ovaries on both sides and endometriosis in the uterine muscles, severe fluid retention of 2 cathees, needing intervention to support in vitro fertilization and reproduction. The...more
July 3, 2021, 3:12 p.m.
Countries: Mexico
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"A group of women, dressed as characters from 'The Handmaid’s Tale,' demonstrated against the Supreme Court’s ruling, which last week validated that states may regulate whether a woman can charge for lending her womb or do so 'altruistically.' 'By endorsing that women and babies are considered commodities that can be rented or bought, they are turning their backs on us. They are not with our human rights, they are with those who want to commodify our bodies,' said activist Laura Lecuona as she read a letter addressed to the SCJN" (para 2-3). "However, feminist groups have launched a campaign to pressure the ministers and the president of the Supreme Court...more
June 9, 2021, 8:43 p.m.
Countries: Poland
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"In Poland 27 clinics performing in vitro fertilization were registered under the European IVF Monitoring (EIM)" (66).
April 27, 2021, 12:47 p.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: TRAFF-PRACTICE-1, ACR-PRACTICE-1

"A Chinese man and five Cambodian women arrested alongside the 32, and a Cambodian man and a Chinese woman arrested since, were also sentenced on Monday for their roles in organizing the commercial surrogacy, said court spokesman Y Rin. The spokesman said the sentences among the 40 convicted ranged from three to 16 years, declining to give a breakdown. The surrogates...were set to earn about $10,000 each, more than six times the average annual salary" (para 3-5). "Cambodia was a popular international destination for couples looking to have babies through commercial surrogacy, a practice made illegal in 2016 after an uptick in the trade following a ban by neighboring Thailand...more
April 26, 2021, 11:49 a.m.
Countries: Italy
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Pending the legislative development that will follow the decisions of the Constitutional Court, it is worthy of mention that, at the operational level, in Italy, there are 276 centres authorized by Regions to apply MAP techniques" (90).
April 22, 2021, 6:30 p.m.
Countries: Kenya
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"In an interview on Milele FM in July 2020, the bill's sponsor, Senator Kihika, clarified her initial intent: 'What drove me to come up with the bill was majorly to help couples that could not be able to conceive. I wanted to come up with a legislative framework that could bring in IVF and surrogacy. In my role as representative of the people over time, I have come across multiple couples who could not get the services. Even though it is available, there are no laws that govern it and it is extremely expensive that only the very wealthy in the society are able to access'" (para 16). "If the...more
Feb. 27, 2021, 10:55 a.m.
Countries: Ukraine
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The HIV positive women often refused in the services of assisted reproductive technologies, especially in vitro fertilization (IVF). The regulatory acts of Ukraine stipulate HIV infection as a contraindication to the infertility treatment in women by means of assisted reproductive technologies for budget funds" (25).
Dec. 31, 2020, 3:12 p.m.
Countries: United States
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"They addressed why an infertility diagnosis is particularly devastating to “Generation IVF;” the first generation of women to grow up with the reproductive freedom to delay pregnancy and have access to in vitro fertilization" (para 7) "Tsigdinos, who had her first fertility workup at age 29, noted that well-intentioned friends and family members often exacerbate the sense of loss with statements like “just keep trying” or “you’re still young” when fertility struggles are confided. When Tsigdinos eventually stopped fertility treatments without becoming pregnant and shared her story in her memoir, she received emails from women around the world. Some told her she was bitter or that she didn’t try hard...more
Nov. 6, 2020, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: Israel
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

“Gay couples will soon be able to access surrogacy in Israel, after the country's top court ruled against a law that excludes them in February, giving the government a year to pass a new one. Tens of thousands of people protested against the law, which gave single and infertile women access to state support for surrogacy, when it was passed in 2018” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT).
Nov. 6, 2020, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: China
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

“Taiwan bans all surrogacy. But since same-sex marriage was legalised in May 2019, commercial surrogacy agencies from the United States have marketed their services to gay couples on the island, including from Asian countries like China” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT). “Thailand…used to be [a hub] for overseas commercial surrogacy, particularly for prospective parents from China, until it was banned in 2015…respectively” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT). “Cambodia used to be [a hub] for overseas commercial surrogacy, particularly for prospective...more
Nov. 6, 2020, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

“Cambodia used to be [a hub] for overseas commercial surrogacy, particularly for prospective parents from China, until it was banned in…2016 respectively” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT).
Nov. 6, 2020, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: Taiwan
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

“Taiwan bans all surrogacy. But since same-sex marriage was legalised in May 2019, commercial surrogacy agencies from the United States have marketed their services to gay couples on the island, including from Asian countries like China” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT).
Nov. 6, 2020, 10:26 a.m.
Countries: Thailand
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

“Thailand…used to be [a hub] for overseas commercial surrogacy, particularly for prospective parents from China, until it was banned in 2015…respectively” (para 29) This quote is taken from an informative text box inserted into the article following paragraph 29 (MLB-CODER COMMENT).
Oct. 1, 2020, 9:06 p.m.
Countries: Hungary
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Hungary will offer free IVF to childless couples in its latest bid to boost its declining population instead of welcoming more migrants. Right wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the policy yesterday saying he wants 'Hungarian children instead of immigrants'. The government has already taken over six private fertility clinics to provide the free service from February 1" (para 1-3). "Last month the government announced it was buying six private fertility clinics, four in the capital Budapest and two elsewhere" (para 12). "He also described fertility clinics as being 'of national strategic importance' and advised private firms against investing in them as 'they will not get permits'" (para 14).more
July 14, 2020, 4:50 p.m.
Countries: Ukraine
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"Lying in rows of cots in a small hotel on the outskirts of Kyiv, 51 babies born to surrogate mothers are stranded in Ukraine as the coronavirus lockdown is preventing parents from the US, Europe and elsewhere from collecting them" (para 1). "Lyudmyla Denisova, the human rights ombudsman for the Ukrainian parliament, said that the video showed the country had a 'massive and systemic' surrogacy industry where babies were advertised as a 'high quality product'. She suggested looking into changing the law to allow only Ukrainian parents to use such services" (para 7-8). "At BioTexCom, a surrogate mother receives about $15,000-$17,000. Parents arrive from all over the world including the...more
Dec. 14, 2019, 2:59 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The ever-increasing chasm in female-to-male sex ratios has been exacerbated by the plummeting cost of sex-selection IVF procedures and abortions in even the most remote parts of India" (para 33).
March 11, 2019, 11:13 a.m.
Countries: Kazakhstan
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

Since 2010, the list of free medical services and medicines has included in vitro fertilization (in 2011 — 350 cycles; 2012 — 600 cycles; 2013 — 600 cycles, 2014 — 600 cycles, 2015 — 820 cycles, 2016 — 813 cycles, 2017 — 900 cycles)" (32).
Feb. 3, 2019, 9:09 p.m.
Countries: Costa Rica
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee notes with concern: (e) The inaccessibility of in vitro fertilization for women in the public health sector owing to the delay in implementing legislation authorizing its application. The Committee recommends that the State party: (...) (e) Speed up the implementation of the provisions of Decree No. 39210-MP-S of 10 September 2015 authorizing the application of in vitro fertilization in the public health sector" (10-11).
Jan. 7, 2019, 12:03 p.m.
Countries: Malaysia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The Special Rapporteur also expressed concern about commercial surrogacy and the lack of a regulatory body to oversee the practice" (para 9).
June 1, 2018, 10:46 a.m.
Countries: Sri Lanka
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee is also concerned about the persistence of gender role stereotyping in the educational system, resulting in girls’ concentration in lower-skill areas of vocational and technical education, as well as the lack of action of the State party to combat the persistent underrepresentation of women in the high education technical and engineering fields" (7).
May 29, 2018, 10:25 a.m.
Countries: Sri Lanka
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee is also concerned about the persistence of gender role stereotyping in the educational system, resulting in girls’ concentration in lower-skill areas of vocational and technical education, as well as the lack of action of the State party to combat the persistent underrepresentation of women in the high education technical and engineering fields" (7).
Dec. 13, 2017, 11:29 p.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: ACR-PRACTICE-1

"The Cambodian ban will likely increase surrogacy costs globally, driving foreigners to countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Greece, Canada and the US which have protective laws in place. However surrogacy costs in the US can be as high as $200,000 while agencies charge far less in developing countries like Cambodia" (para 7).