This open access book discusses and analyses competing views and social implications of gestational surrogacy, which is making inroads as an option for parenthood as well as a work opportunity for women. It provides a rich account of transnational mobilizations for the abolition and regulation of surrogacy, with focus on United States, Italy and Mexico. The author critically assesses the core narratives of supporters and opponents of surrogacy, in order to understand this reproductive practice in light of some of the essential elements of contemporary societies, such as the “child at any cost” culture, individualism, technology and female emancipation. This book appeals to scholars, policy makers and all those who want to understand the controversial debate on this unprecedented method of family formation and life production.

Daniela Bandelli, PhD, is Lecturer of Sociology at LUMSA University in Rome (Italy). She has a  Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Australia. As a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellow and visiting scholar at the University of Texas, she is conducting the project “Women's Movements and Gestational Surrogacy” (WoMoGeS), with fieldwork in Mexico, United States and Italy and this book is an outcome of the research project. Her research interests span across assisted reproduction, domestic violence, and feminism. She is the author of Femicide, Gender, and Violence (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017).