Surrogacy
By: Ilija Zecevic
Surrogacy is defined as a contract in which a woman carries a child/children for another couple. Surrogate mothers are used in many cases, ranging from be infertile, to wanting children and not biologically able to carry them. There are two types of surrogate mothers: Traditional and Gestational. Traditional surrogate mothers are artificially inseminated with the father’s sperm, she carries the baby to term. This means that the biological mother of the baby would be the surrogate. If there is not a father involved in the donation of sperm, a sperm donor can be chosen to obtain the sperm for fertilization. Gestational surrogacy is a more advanced method; the egg of the adopting mother can be used to produce a biological offspring without carrying it. The egg is fertilized and implanted via IVF, in vitro fertilization. Some of the ethical questions that arises when surrogacy is involved is: whose baby is it at the end of the day, and commercial surrogacy?
In 2016, a women, Jessica Allen, in California agreed to become a surrogate mother to a Chinese couple for a grand total of $30,000. The agreement between the two parts was that the she would carry their baby, their eggs and sperm. However, six weeks into her pregnancy her ultrasound showed that there was two fetuses in the womb. Since she was fertilized via IVF, it was assumed that the addition fetus in the womb was a cause of the IVF. She agreed to carry that baby and the couple offered her another $5,000 for the child. In December of that year, she went in for a C-section. Due to her agreement, she wasn’t allowed to hold or see the children, this really devastated her emotionally. She was able to see a picture of the children, and she noticed that the “identical twins” looked different. The biological mother sent a picture of the twins and asked why the two look different. After a DNA test, one of the twins was really the offspring of Ms. Allen. The Chinese couple decided to give up the child that wasn’t their biological match to the surrogacy agency and sued the Allen’s for compensation. After a law suit with the agency they finally got their son back. There should be a mandatory DNA to ensure that the right child is going to the right couple. Ms. Allen would have never given up her child if she knew from the beginning that it was hers, she was devastated when she found out what happened to her and her partner.
The majority of the time, the surrogate mother carries the baby to term, and doesn’t decide to keep the baby. However, there have been many cases were the surrogate mother decides to keep the baby after she has become pregnant. This causes a huge lawsuit between the two parties on whose baby it is. In a few cases, surrogate mothers manipulate the system and obtain child support for the child that they carried from the parents. A couple of cases resulted in the surrogate mother being given visitation rights. The result of who keeps the baby solely depends on where you are having the baby and who the egg donor was. In a few cases where surrogate mothers were successful in keeping the child, they were the egg donor or moved across state lines. To have a successful surrogate adoption process, the best thing is to do a gestational surrogacy and have lots of legal defense. Most importantly find a surrogate mother with similar views as you, otherwise talks about adoption or abortion will be extremely difficult.
Complicated issues. One the one hand, I suppose, people ought to be free to commodify their own bodies if they perceive it in their best interests, under specific circumstances, to do so. On the other hand, commodifying babies seems wrong. The very least we can do is impose DNA tests and the like to avoid the worst kinds of mistake. But is there ultimately any way to manage surrogacy so effectively that it may not threaten our sense of the sanctity of life?
ReplyDeleteIlija,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your report and you also received a variety of emotions during it. Way to capture your audience!
About 20 years ago, this is something I personally researched and considered doing. My reasons were for the income and to help a couple achieve something I had already obtained; a family with children. But, in the end, I became so busy with my own family, that I felt I may not be able to provide the most conducive and stress-free environment possible for the pregnancy.
Just like abortion, this is truly a decision that ultimately falls upon the female, but in my case, I was already married with a husband and children, so there were many other variables that had to be considered. Such as, how do I explain to my children that mommy is pregnant, but this is someone else’s baby? When the baby arrives, they won’t have a new brother or sister. I also wondered how difficult, emotionally, it would be to carry a pregnancy to full term, deliver and then not keep the child, considering this would be a first for me? Just a few of the many questions, that I considered.
Ana
Ana,
DeleteThanks so much for sharing, that must have been a difficult decision to have to make. I could only imagine the conversation that had taken place between you and your husband. There is so much that goes into a pregnancy. It takes a very strong women to endure all the pain of birth and not reap any emotional reward.
Ilija