“This is a good news in the sense that the Committee didn’t approve any kind of acceptance of surrogacy”, but at the same time, it abstained “to express a clear condemnation of this practice, which violates human dignity”. The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) commented in this way on the decision taken yesterday in Paris by the Committee on Health of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to reject the resolution on surrogacy presented by the Belgian Senator Dr. Petra De Sutter. The Committee also proposed a draft recommendation calling for the drawing up of “European guidelines to safeguard children’s rights in relation to surrogacy arrangements”. The ball is now back in the Parliamentary Assembly’s court which will vote on this recommendation in its October session. According to the FAFCE, such recommendation is “ambiguous” and remains “very vague on how to really protect children’s rights and how to fight surrogacy”. The Federation believes that the institutions of the Council of Europe should clearly condemn all forms of surrogacy for it constitutes a violation of rights and human dignity: “We are concerned to see that the current draft does not address the core problems of a practice which makes the child a commodity and the woman an instrument”.