Pregnancy is, in my opinion, one of the greatest biological capabilities that we are capable of. Developing a human being within your own body and then going on to be its parent and raise the child into a fully grown capable human being is something many people in our world dream of. However, for some this is not a possibility due to infertility issues that may arise under a wide array of circumstance. A rise in infertility has lead to an increase in assisted reproductive techniques, or surrogacy, as a common practice. Surrogacy is when a surrogate mother bears a child for a couple or individual who are may be infertile. There are two types of surrogacy that can be implemented, the first being gestational fertility, which as become more common, which uses in vitro fertilization and then places the embryo within the surrogate mother (Saxon et al. 2012). The other type is traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate mother is impregnated with the fathers sperm artificially, this means that the surrogate mother is genetically and gestational the mother of the child (Saxon et al. 2012). Typically, when surrogacy is performed, there is a contract signed between the mother and the couple or individual who will be the child's parents.
There, of course, are a handful of ethical issues that arise when discussing the idea of surrogacy. The first being the idea that when a surrogacy is performed, it creates a divided between genetic, gestational, and social parenthood, as the surrogate mother will be the gestational (and potentially genetic) mother of the child, while the parents will take over for the social aspect of parenthood (Meinke, 1988). Another issue that comes up is the detrimental effects that surrogacy can have on the surrogate mother. There is an extreme amount of stress that comes with being a mother and going through pregnancy under normal circumstance, but in surrogacy there is added stress due to the emotional and psychological effects that can arise from giving up the baby (Meinke, 1988). In fact, there have been cases where the surrogate mother refused to give up the child and had to go to court to sort out the custody of the child.The final ethical issue that I will talk about is perhaps the most concerning to me, the idea of commercial vs. altruistic surrogacy. This is an area where things get very complicated, as both sides of the argument have significant ethical issues. With commercialized surrogacy, the mother is financially rewarded, which can lead to the the development of a market for this type of exchange. This can lead to exploitation by coercion and potential reproductive labor being forced on individuals, especially in lower income areas (Blazier and Janssens, 2020). On the other side, altruistic surrogacy also has ethical issues. This is when there is no financial reward to the surrogate mother, with can lead to exploitation in other ways (Blazier and Janssens, 2020). There have been countries that have taken up each approach, with the Netherlands taking a altruistic approach and India taking a commercial approach to surrogacy, but, overall it is clear that both sides have their issues, and there is regulations that need to be put in place to keep the best interest of the mothers and the couples in mind.
Blazier, J., & Janssens, R. (2020). Regulating the international surrogacy market:the ethics of commercial surrogacy in the Netherlands and India. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 23(4), 621–630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-020-09976-x
Saxena, P., Mishra, A., & Malik, S. (2012). Surrogacy: Ethical and legal issues. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 37(4), 211. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.103466
Surrogate motherhood: Ethical and legal issues ... - georgetown university. (n.d.). https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/556906/sn6.pdf?sequence=1
This was a very interesting post to read and something I wouldn't expect to be on here, but I liked it none the less. I feel like a lot of the times, a lot of this can be avoided through careful paperwork and agreements between the surrogate mother and the couple involved. Another idea that a lot of these couples that can't have kids should explore is adoption and to have a talk between them about the subject.
ReplyDeleteI have always been curious about those who participate as a surrogate for another set of parents. Personally, I cannot imagine putting my body through one of the toughest tests a human being can go through just to give the child up - and accept that it is not "yours". While looking into surrogacy, I found that the majority of altruistic surrogacies are found when there is a familial or close connection between the surrogate and the parents-to-be (Lee, 2021). This could be more manageable as the surrogate could still maintain a relationship with the child, and will be supported by the future parents. Another interesting concern is the potential to create "reproductive tourism" with commercial surrogacy; if countries compensate differently, people may begin to flock to these areas (Lee, 2021).
ReplyDeleteLee, J. Y. (2022). Surrogacy: Beyond the commercial/altruistic distinction. Journal of Medical Ethics, 49(3), 196–199. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-108093