Surrogate Motherhood

Surrogate motherhood refers to that condition of a fertile (footnote) woman who has been contracted to become impregnated via reproductive technologies such as donor or artificial insemination. It is that condition wherein that fertile woman also has agreed to transfer her rights on the child to the biological parents after giving birth. This is bounded by a contract that was signed by the contracting parents and the surrogate. The reasons for this generally fall into two categories. Either the contracting couple is unable to produce a child or they would prefer to eliminate or enhance certain genetic traits. My argument would apply to either case. For the purpose of this paper, the motivations are irrelevant and the logic following applies to both. The possibility of surrogacy has gotten people into quite a tizzy with furious debates concerning issues such as the commedification of a woman's reproductive organs, the physiological & psychological harm, and its social impacts on a religious definition of marriage. I will defend the claim that surrogacy is an immoral action which places a socially constructed and therefore arbitrary value on the natural phenomenon of human reproduction, the implications of viewing the natural in terms of the artificial can be seen through the increase psychological and health risks of the women that contract.

Prior to discussing the ethical issues, I must discuss the scientific process involved. There are actually various types of reproductive technologies women can undergo. These would include, as mentioned earlier, donor or artificial insemination, assisted hatching, in vitro fertilization, gametra fallopian transfer, zygote intrafallopian transfer, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo micromanipulation. These are actually the technologies employed in the process of surrogacy (Hinman, 2001). Surrogacy or surrogate motherhood, like reproductive technologies, can be further classified as gestational surrogacy, traditional surrogacy, and egg donation.

Gestational surrogacy, as defined by various references, would refer to the surrogacy condition wherein there in absolutely no genetic link between the child and the carrier. This may be in the form of the following (Canadian Surrogacy Options, Inc.) Traditional surrogacy, on the other hand, would refer to the surrogacy condition wherein the carrier actually has a genetic link to the child. The surrogate concurs with the arrangement that the intended father's sperm inseminate her and would transfer and or terminate her parental rights over the child to the intended mother. It is also said that with this type of surrogacy, the intended mother enters into a step parent type of adoption (Canadian Surrogacy Options, Inc). Lastly, egg donation, would refer to the condition or process of maintaining a database for potential egg donors (Canadian Surrogacy Options, Inc.) For the purposes of this discussion, each of these engages in the commidification of the reproductive agency and human reproduction by legally and socially justifying a condition in which this capacity may become fungible.

(FOOT NOTE)

Mother's egg, father's sperm Ð'- this type of surrogacy is usually employed in cases wherein the mother is not capable of carrying a fertilized egg for medical reasons.

Donor egg, father's sperm Ð'- a type of surrogacy that is employed when there is doubt on the quality of the egg or there are no available ovaries for fertilization.

Mother's egg, donor sperm Ð'- this is the opposite of donor egg, father's sperm. This is actually taken into consideration when there is doubt in the quality of the father's sperm.

Donor egg, donor sperm Ð'- is the type of surrogacy chosen by intended parents who would want to establish a genetic link with the child.

Surrogate motherhood became popular in the 1980's. This was popularized by the case of Baby M, which primarily dealt on the ethical issues raised regarding reproductive technology. Surrogacy is actually being used as a tool, medium, and or option taken by infertile couples who would not want to engage themselves into the process of adopting a child due to the failure of the wife or the husband or both to produce fertile gametes that would enable them to procreate life (Squire, 1989).

Surrogacy, as mentioned earlier, is made possible via hiring a fertile woman who would become the carrier of the said fertilized gametes and would be responsible of delivering the offspring to the world after the nine months gestation period for the biological or contracting parents.

Surrogate motherhood is now being practiced by developed countries like the US and some other parts of the European continent and according to various references; surrogacy is actually a legal practice. Women who have agreed to become surrogates are paid for their participatory role and for the expenses they have incurred during the nine months gestation period. However, although the said reproductive technology has been legalized it entailed endless debates on whether it can be qualified as a moral and just act especially on the part of the surrogates (Richardson, 1987).

Those who advocate the practice of surrogacy claim that it is a moral and just act since people who are burdened by the frustration of not being able to procreate are actually being addressed. With surrogacy, infertile couples are actually provided the joys of parenthood. Likewise, it is also said that surrogacy does not necessarily have to be equated with money. With the aid of laws and existing public policies regarding it, it is also claimed that the possibility of commercialization and the development of a market for it can be controlled and at the same time access to the said reproductive technology is made possible for anyone who would like to avail it (http://www.debatabase.org).

On the other hand, for those groups of people who strongly opposes the use such reproductive technology, claim that surrogacy is wrong for it connotes baby selling, reproductive organs are treated as a commodity, and so on and so forth. Likewise, according to them, surrogacy makes parenthood become a fundamental right. Moreover, it actually led to commercialization wherein fertile women where found to hire out their wombs to the highest bidder. It could also lead to a confusing and damaging situation to child once he or she discovers the nature of his or her birth. These are only few of the main reasons why some people would take technology as unjust (Ragone, 1994).

Janet McDowell and others argue that surrogate arrangements are immoral because the act itself deviates from the normal process of procreation