Birthrates in much of the developed world are at record lows, but there’s one demographic group that’s exploring new frontiers of fertility: ultrawealthy men. Deploying nearly limitless resources, a small number of them are reproducing at such an extraordinary scale and pace that they’re exploding previous notions of what a family is. At a moment when so many people say they feel priced out of having even one child, these adventures in prolific fatherhood are emerging as a stark example of inequality made flesh.
The Hague Convention is often presented as a neutral legal framework designed to resolve international child abduction cases. Yet for many women affected by domestic abuse, migration and cross-border families, the reality is very different. This webinar explores two seemingly opposite experiences. In Turkey, migrant women become trapped in a foreign country, isolated from family, support networks and services, while facing domestic abuse and the threat of losing their children. In Lithuania, local mothers can find themselves losing custody and contact with their children to foreign fathers, despite remaining in their own country. Through these contrasting experiences, we will explore the common patterns that emerge when women’s safety, children’s wellbeing and international family law collide.
As France looks ahead to its 2027 presidential election, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has thrust surrogacy back into the center of the country’s political debate.
Attal, who announced his presidential bid in May and now leads President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, has called for a national debate on legalizing surrogacy, which remains prohibited under French law. He has openly linked the issue to his personal desire to have children with his partner, European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, a former French foreign minister, through surrogacy.
The proposal places Attal at odds with Macron, who has repeatedly described the legalization of surrogacy as a “red line.”
With Macron constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term, Attal’s position has emerged as one of the clearest bioethical dividing lines in the race to succeed him.
A former breastfeeding counsellor was back before a Brisbane tribunal on Wednesday – not for a final hearing, but for a procedural step in a case that has now been running for years.
Jasmine Sussex is defending a vilification complaint brought by a transgender-identifying man after she publicly criticised men who claim they can breastfeed. The complaint, lodged in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, alleges she incited hatred, serious contempt, or severe ridicule.
Wednesday’s hearing was about evidence before the tribunal. The complainant claims to have induced lactation under medical supervision. Jasmine’s legal team sought an order that the complainant provide medical evidence relating to that claim. A single-member panel of the tribunal ruled earlier this year that the complainant need not produce the evidence, and that it was irrelevant to whether Jasmine’s criticism amounted vilification.
Jasmine, who is represented by HRLA and Anthony Morris KC, is appealing that ruling.
This is how these cases grind on – each procedural question argued, reserved, and appealed while the years accumulate, and still without any finding of vilification. In many ways, the process is the punishment.
Queensland has, in the past year, taken modest steps toward restoring common sense to gender policy – reinstating a freeze on puberty blockers for minors, and a cabinet minister acknowledging that a woman is an adult human female. But in the same state Jasmine has been hauled before a tribunal for saying something nearly all Queenslanders would accept as common sense.
The question is not whether Jasmine’s views are contested. It is whether contested views on biological sex, infant welfare, and women’s rights can be expressed at all without attracting years of legal proceedings.
When they cannot, the cost falls on ordinary Australians – not on those with the resources to absorb it.
Only three out of 10 common IVF add-ons may benefit fertility, a study has found.
The study’s lead author has called for IVF clinics to offer more clarification.
Lead author Sarah Lensen said the findings challenge the widespread belief that additional treatments, such as intralipid infusion, improve outcomes.
Currently, there are more than 20 extra IVF procedures available in IVF clinics, often advertised as add-ons that could benefit pregnancy, including acupuncture, corticosteroid use and intralipid infusions, with prices ranging from $150 to $5,000.
In 2021, the research team partnered with the Victorian IVF regulator VARTA to survey 1,590 women who undergo IVF treatment. It found 82 per cent of them had used an additional treatment alongside their IVF procedures.
Lensen said despite the common perception that IVF could guarantee pregnancy, IVF success rates across the world remain “modest”.
A group of states has today launched a political declaration calling for an international moratorium on surrogacy, as part of broader efforts to promote the abolition of the practice in line with international human rights law.
Spearheaded by the governments of Italy and Chile, the declaration sets out a shared commitment to achieving the global abolition of surrogacy, promoting an international moratorium on the practice as a stepping stone towards an international legally binding instrument.
The declaration highlights the severe human rights violations and abuses inherent in surrogacy, noting especially the commodification of human life and women’s reproductive capabilities, as well as the harm to the rights of children caused by their deliberate separation from the women who carried and gave birth to them.
The document was presented at a high-level event held on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, co-hosted by the governments of Italy, Chile, Cameroon and the Holy See and moderated by ADF International.
Surrogacy market size in 2026 is estimated at USD 28.91 billion, growing from 2025 value of USD 23.66 billion with 2031 projections showing USD 78.68 billion, growing at 22.19% CAGR over 2026-2031.
Growth stems from delayed parenthood among millennials, higher infertility prevalence, and wider acceptance of diverse family structures. Legal reforms in the United States, Thailand, and several European countries are redrawing international patient flows, while rapid gains in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates shorten treatment timelines.
Fertility centers continue to integrate artificial-intelligence embryo selection, cutting costs and increasing reliability. Cross-border demand is expanding toward lower-cost, regulation-light destinations in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia as intended parents search for clear parentage rules and favorable pricing.
IVI RMA Global, Virtus Health, Bourn Hall Clinic, Circle Surrogacy and New Hope Fertility Center are the major companies operating in this market.
Pleased to be co-organizing this side event with a number of States and civil society organizations on violence against mothers on the 25th of June from 13:00 to 14:00 CET.
