Should surrogacy be banned?

Surrogacy is a hugely complex procedure.  A woman carries a child for a person or couple who are not able to carry their own child.  When it was first started, surrogacy usually involved the surrogates own egg so she was the biological mother of the child (traditional surrogacy).  This has obvious issues, mainly as sometimes the surrogate did not want to give up her child, such as the famous Baby M case.  But using IVF procedures, gestational surrogacy involves the commissioning women’s own egg or an egg donor, so the surrogate has no genetic relationship to the child.  But even in these situations, a surrogate may change her mind about giving up the baby she carried for 9 months.

Surrogacy may be less of an issue if a relative carries the child, such as a sister or mother.

But issues can happen such as when the commissioning couple divorce or one of them dies during the pregnancy. This has happened several times and causes even more problems if a donor egg or sperm is used and the commissioning couple has no genetic relationship with the child.  But another issue is when the fetus is found to be carrying a genetic abnormality, which might be discovered during the pregnancy or at delivery.  In some situations the commissioning couple decide they do not want to take an ‘abnormal’ child or the surrogate may refuse to terminate a pregnancy if she is carrying an abnormal baby.  In 2014 an Australia couple refused to take one of their twins which had Down’s syndrome – only taking the ‘normal’ child.

There have been several reports about rich couples who commission more than one surrogate at a time, including the Japanese billionaire who has been reported to have 16 surrogate children.

Any pregnancy carries risks and maternal mortality is an issue globally.  There have been reports where the surrogate has died.

Globally there is a huge market for cross border reproductive surrogacy where the surrogate lives in a different country to the commissioning couple.  Legal problems may arise trying to get the baby out of the surrogates country and into the commissioning couples country.

Surrogacy is legal in the USA, where surrogates earn about £30-50,000.  In India surrogates are paid about $5000, which in India is about 10 years wages.  Whether commercial surrogacy is legal or not in a particular country, surrogates may be paid more ‘under the table’.

And a growing number of celebrities have turned to surrogacy.   Male gay couples need egg donation and surrogacy if they want to have a children – such as Elton John and Ricky Martin.  But what about celebrity females who have already had a child naturally but turn to surrogacy for future pregnancies such as Nicole Kidman and Sarah Jessica Parker.  Why would they do this?

Margaret Atwood wrote a novel called The Handmaids Tale about a society in the near future where the rich turn to surrogacy.

Canada, India, Cambodia, Mexico, and many European countries have shown leadership by either banning or restricting the practice.  In December 2015 the European Parliament recommended that surrogacy should be banned, calling it an exploitation of vulnerable women.  The European Parliament in Brussels says surrogacy “undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity.”  European leaders also consider it an urgent human rights matter and say gestational surrogacy “involves reproductive exploitation and use of the human body for financial or other gain,” especially the bodies “of vulnerable women in developing countries.”

CBC President Jennifer Lahl, a former paediatric critical care nurse says “Most countries throughout the world understand that commercial surrogacy industry exploits women for financial gain and that this is a human rights issue of global proportions. No potential leader of the Free World can ignore one of the most important human rights issues of our time.”

How far should people go to have a chid?  Is all surrogacy exploitation?  Are poor women being used to carry rich women’s children?  Are we selling babies?  Should it be banned?

Read More:

India ban surrogacy for foreigners

Celebrities who have had surrogacy

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/25/surrogacy-sweden-ban

European Parliament condemns surrogacy

Image credit:  qsota.com