An Appraisal of the Concept of Surrogacy and Reproductive Rights: A Call for the Legalization of Surrogacy in Nigeria

Abstract

Reproductive rights confer upon individuals’ significant control over their procreative choices or activities including the decision of when and how to have a child or children. Thus, surrogacy is an integral aspect of reproductive rights. surrogacy may be defined as an arrangement in which a person referred to as the surrogate, carries a pregnancy and delivers a child for another individual or individuals. Notwithstanding the debate regarding the legitimacy of surrogacy in Nigeria, its practices hold sway in the country. over the years, the concept received limited scholarly attention. But at present, it will not be an overstatement to say that considerable scholarly discourse has emerged about the concept of surrogacy in Nigeria. Most of the existing literature focuses on the problem of absence of legal framework or emphasizes the need for regulatory legislation to regulate the practice of surrogacy in Nigeria without delving into any arguments in support of its legal recognition. To fill this literature gap, this study adopts the doctrinal method of research to painstakingly examine and expound the justifications or arguments for the legalisation of surrogacy in Nigeria and advocates for its formal legal recognition. It found that the balance tilts in favour of legalising surrogacy when the argument against the practice and the argument in favour of the legalising surrogacy are placed side by side on an imaginary scale. The work has made a considerable improvement and contribution to the existing literature on surrogacy and reproductive rights in Nigeria.