31-Year-Old Atheist Surrogate Meets Pope Francis, Shares Mutual Call for Global Ban on Surrogacy | HNGN [Video]

Olivia Maurel, a 31-year-old Franco-American mother of three living in Cannes, recently met with Pope Francis to share their common advocacy against surrogacy.

According to EWTN, Maurel was born via surrogacy in the United States in 1991 and has since suffered abandonment trauma, identity issues, and several suicide attempts.

“I was a product of surrogacy, and I’ve always felt it inside me—a baby made to order, a commodity for money,” she said. “We’re used to having in the news a lot of beautiful stories of children born via surrogacy … and we are not used to hearing the bad aspects of surrogacy and how it’s totally unethical.”

Maurel is one of the very few people who were involved in surrogacy—both surrogate mothers and children born of surrogacy—speaking out against the practice.

Back in January, the pope called for a universal ban on surrogacy and the “commercialization” of pregnancy, which he called “despicable.”

“I …