We have another of these lovely examples of how the intent of a regulation can be very different indeed from the effect of said regulation out there in the real world. We'll assume that most people are pretty cool with there being regulations against murder and punishments for breaching them. We're also pretty sure that such regulations and punishments reduce the number of murders that occur. So, sure, some regulations can indeed be beneficial, achieve their stated goal. We can also look around the world and see those gurning idiots in South America who think that if you peg the price of toilet paper nice and low then the poor will be able to afford toilet paper. Of course, what happens is that no one can afford toilet paper as no one is willing to make it for this new and lower price. Regulations can have the opposite effect to that intended.
And then there's, well, then there's this:
Fair or not, this latest evidence of the risks of informal surrogacy arrangements, in the context of Britain’s strict regulatory code, can only encourage more parents to bypass local options and head straight for a poorer or developing country. In India, for example, surrogates are plentiful, screened and by all accounts more dependable than British volunteers.
Leave aside, for a moment, any judgement on either the morality or desirability of such surrogacy. And consider the statement there. That strict regulation of who may do what and when drives the very activity itself out of the regulatory net. Does this regulation therefore achieve its aim? We would say probably not. The take away from this specific example being that, if one wanted to keep the activity inside the regulatory net then one would probably argue for a lighter touch with the regulation.
This observation is of a great deal mpore use than just talking about reproductive technology of course. It's from the one side, the argument used in favour of legal abortion: without the legality it would still take place on those fabled backstreets and this would be worse. And it, from the other side, informs our attitude towards recreational drugs. As is obvious it's going to happen anyway. So, loosen the regulations on whether people can or not so as to bring the activity into the regulations on purity and safety. Which is, as should be obvious, exactly the same as that abortion argument. Both are arguing that regulation should be pitched at the level to minimise harm, that only being possible when regulation is sufficiently light for the activity to remain regulated at all.
Thus it is essential that all regulation be "light touch" regulation. Within a wide and highly variable definition of "light" to be sure, dependent upon the specific activity. But it must always be light enough not to drive the activity underground and thus out of the reach of any regulation at all.