Constitutional considerations of surrogacy in Colombia: an analysis of its elements and possible alternatives

This paper focuses on the constitutional perspective of surrogacy in Colombia and identifies four key elements relevant to its analysis. It analyzes the autonomy of will as the basis of the surrogacy agreement; incorporation of the international principle of the child’s best interests in surrogacy; guarantee of the fundamental rights of the participants in the surrogacy agreement, especially sexual and reproductive rights; and impact of surrogacy in the constitutional idea of family. Finally, the paper considers the situations wherein the constitutional elements may come into dispute. The potential legal regulation of surrogate motherhood represents a challenge for the legal system, as it involves various constitutional values, principles, and rights that may contradict each other in the practical development of the concept. This paper reveals what these values, principles, and rights entail and how they are defined within the framework of surrogacy, thereby contributing to the debate on the optimal legal framework of the full validity of these values, principles, and rights.