Surrogate motherhood is a method of medically assisted reproduction that allows infertile couples to have children. It is based on an agreement between the commissioning parents and the surrogate mother in which she agrees to carry the child and to hand it over to the commissioning parents after the birth. Surrogacy agreements can be commercial or altruistic in nature. Altruistic agreements are those in which surrogate mother doesn’t ask for compensation for her services, and commercial are ones in which the commissioning parents pay a certain amount of money. Surrogate motherhood raises many legal, moral and ethical dilemmas because it separates legal, genetic and social parentage and calls into question the presumption of mater semper certa est. Most states prohibit surrogacy in order to protect morals and public order, including the Republic of Croatia. The Croatian Act on Medically Assisted Fertilization explicitly prohibits any form of surrogate motherhood. However, there are also states that have liberal approach regarding surrogacy motherhood and that allow commercial agreements. Different state approaches on surrogate motherhood paved the way for cross-border surrogate motherhood. International surrogacy agreements have recently been the subject of ECtHR decisions on violating the right to respect for private and family life. Surrogacy leads to violation of children’s rights, such as the right to identity, the right to nationality and the right to know and be cared for by their parents. In addition, commercial cross-border surrogacy leads to the sale of children and the exploitation of women.