Surrogacy

Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother (the more traditional form of surrogacy), or she may be implanted with someone else's fertilized egg (gestational surrogacy), as this trend started since the first artificial surrogate mothers in Europe or the U.S. back in the 1960s.

Definition

The word surrogate, from Latin surrogatus (substituted), means appointed to act in the place of. A surrogate mother is a woman who agrees to bear a child for a couple who want to have children but are incapable. The reasons could be that the wife is infertile or physically incapable of carrying a developing fetus. The surrogate mother is the biological mother of the child, conceiving it through artificial insemination with sperm donated from the husband. In gestational surrogacy, the wife is fertile but incapable of carrying a growing fetus. In these situations, the child is conceived by in vitro fertilization using the wife's eggs and her husband's sperm, and the resulting embryo is implanted in the surrogate mother's uterus and brought to term.

History

Surrogacy has been around for centuries. The existence of the concept of one woman bearing a child for another dates back to the Old Testament, when Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah, lies with Abraham to bear a child for her infertile mistress. However, the first formal surrogacy agreement was not arranged until 1976 in the United States. After this, surrogacy was marketed as a solution for women with fertility issues. Firms and companies began to spring up dedicated to promoting surrogacy and taking care of surrogate mothers.

A landmark year for surrogate mothers was 1986, with the Baby M case. In 1984, William and Elizabeth Stern had contracted Mary Beth Whitehead to be their surrogate mother. When it came closer to the birthdate, Whitehead decided to void the contract and keep the baby, rejecting the money offered with the contract. Whitehead was arrested and brought to court, where many trials followed to determine the legitimacy of Whitehead's claim: that the baby was indeed hers. In the end, the courts concluded that surrogacy contracts conflict with state public policy, but still permitted voluntary surrogacy. In effect, surrogacy contracts cannot be supported by law but are allowed to be created. The Sterns were allowed to keep custody of the child, but Whitehead was granted visiting priviledges.

In 1989, mainly in response to the Baby M case, the American Bar Association penned two alternative surrogacy laws. They were meant to be a template for states; many states had decided to either permit surrogacy or outlaw it completely. These laws made surrogacy a choice and makes contracts enforceable through court while prohibiting the creation of contracts that would void the birth mother of any role in the child's life.

Surrogacy is heavily discouraged, but still permitted, in many places. There have been few laws passed enforcing the contracts behind surrogacy. Issues arise with adoption laws which forbid "babyselling," such as when a mother sells her baby before she gives birth, or for a broker to arrange an adoption and receive a fee. Surrogacy firms today screen surrogate mothers very carefully and have a high rejection rate to ensure that the Baby M case does not happen again.

Types of Surrogacy

There are two major types of surrogacy:

1. Partial or genetic contracted motherhood (also known as traditional or straight surrogacy), in which the gestational mother is impregnated with the sperm of the commissioning father (usually through artificial insemination). In these cases, the woman who becomes pregnant is both the genetic and gestational mother of the child; however, she relinquishes her role of social mother to the commissioning mother.
2. Complete or gestational contracted motherhood (also known as host or gestational surrogacy). Using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), the intended parents produce an embryo that can then be transplanted into the surrogate mother for her to gestate and give birth to after nine months. In gestational contracted motherhood the pregnant woman makes no genetic contribution to the child; however, she is the child’s birth mother. In some cases, particularly of infertility, this may be combined with the use of donor sperm or donor eggs in creating the embryo for transfer.

Note that the term "biological mother" confuses the two sorts of surrogacy, and as such is best avoided.

Increasingly, more surrogate mothers are female relatives whom share a common blood type of child-bearing age (i.e. aunts, nieces, sisters and grandmothers) of birth mothers (or fathers) agreed to carry a developing fetus full-term, in order to help the actual mother to have that child. ^{[citation needed]}

Also of note the "Traditional/Straight" surrogate can have her pregnancy achieved (for expediency sake) via IVF treatment. The surrogate's own eggs would still be used and would still be the genetic mother of the child. A sort of 'hybrid' method of the two major forms of surrogacy.

Issues

Emotional issues

Research carried out by the Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University, London, UK in 2002 showed surrogate mothers rarely had difficulty relinquishing rights to a surrogate child and that the commissioning mothers showed greater warmth to the child than mothers conceiving naturally.^{[citation needed]}

Ethical issues

There has been some debate over the ethics of surrogacy.

The clearest argument for supporting surrogacy is that it allows couples who want a family, but who were prevented from having one by infertility, to have a child. Another argument is that people should be allowed to make personal arrangements with a surrogate as long as this arrangement does not harm others. As well, supporters claim that the child's rights can be protected if legal provisions are adequate and enforced. Supporters also argue that if a couple would go to such lengths to have a child, this child would very much be wanted and loved. Finally, proponents of surrogacy believe that most surrogate mothers are motivated by altruistic concerns for other women to have children, and that even if receiving payment, most entered the industry on the grounds of helping others.

The arguments against surrogacy include a consideration of the interests of the surrogate mother and the rights of the child. Some issues include:

• What happens if the surrogate mother or commissioning couple change their mind?
• What happens in the case of miscarriage or multiple births?
• What happens if the child has serious disabilities?
• What are the rights of the child?
• Should payment be involved?

Surrogacy arrangements involve not only the couple and the surrogate mother, but the child as well. Therefore, some argue that society has a right to prohibit surrogacy in order to prevent the child from undesirable circumstances. Some also argue that surrogacy arrangements are in reality contracts for the purchase of a child, which are quite unacceptable.

There has also been some religious opposition to surrogacy. For example, the Vatican has issued a statement rejecting surrogate motherhood, finding that it is not morally licit because it is contrary to unity of marriage and the dignity of procreation of the human person.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Ragone, Helena. Ragsurp, Helena. 1994. Surrogate Motherhood: Conception in the Heart. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0813319797.
• Rothman, Barabra. 1990. Recreating Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchal Society. W.W. Norton and Co Inc. ISBN 978-0393307122.

External links

• Surrogacy UK - The organisation formed to support and inform anyone with an interest in surrogacy within the UK
• Industry Standards, Licensing, and Regulations for Third Party Reproduction
• Personal Accounts of Surrogate Mothers & Intended Parents
• A video on how money, science, and politics play a role in the issue of surrogacy in the United States
• Surrogacy - the issues
• An Online Community of Surrogate Mothers, Intended Parents and Egg Donors
• A Virtual Meeting Ground for the Surrogacy Community
• 1-in-6.com Fertility Tourisms, IVF and personal blog of one such couple attempting Surrogacy

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