Question

PLZ Explain (around 400ish words)

Gestational surrogacy and (paid) egg donation are largely unregulated in the United States. Briefly review why this is the case, and what consequences this has had where questions of parental identity, rights, and responsibilities have arisen in relation to IVF. Then offer a set of well-justified recommendations for policy reforms around these practices. First explain what (if anything) should have been done differently in the late 1970s, and then explain what reforms should be made now. Your recommendations should be grounded in well-reasoned arguments.

Answer 1

Surrogacy, also known as “baby outsourcing,” constitutes exploitation of women encouraged to provide wombs-for-rent. Many surrogate mothers are destitute. Furthermore, when the only motivation is money, surrogacy may have negative health and social consequences for women. In contrast, supporters consider surrogacy a fundamental human right, consistent with the freedom of personal choice and the right to bear children. Surrogacy empowers women to choose whether to participate and gain financial compensation for their valued service. Surrogacy also permits otherwise childless men and women to have children.

The introduction in 1970 of in vitro fertilization – fertilization in a laboratory by mixing sperm with eggs surgically removed from an ovary followed by uterine implantation – radically altered the basic evolutionary process of human reproduction and the practice of surrogacy. The first in vitro fertilization leading to the birth of a child was in 1978, and an estimated 5 million babies have followed since, with about half born in the past six years.

IVF permits six types of surrogacy: Possible sources of the egg are the surrogate, the intended mother or a donor; the intended father or a donor can provide the sperm. Most common in the past were two types of “traditional surrogacy” where the surrogate is the biological mother and the sperm is from the intended father or a donor. The other four types are “gestational surrogacy” where the surrogate is unrelated to the baby with the egg coming from the intended mother or donor, and the sperm is from the intended father or donor. When both the egg and sperm are from donors, the baby is genetically unrelated to the surrogate, the intended mother or the intended father. In addition, the actual parentage is often undisclosed or unknown.

In addition to the ethical, moral and religious objections, surrogacy raises a number of issues often left unaddressed even when legal agreements are involved. What happens, for example, if during the pregnancy the surrogate or intended parents die? What if neither set of parents want the baby? If the pregnancy has medical complications or psychological consequences, results in multiple births or requires cesarean section, does the surrogate receive additional payment? What if the surrogate refuses to turn over the baby to intended parents who may be unmarried, single or homosexual? Can intended parents require the surrogate to terminate the pregnancy, especially when the fetus has serious health problems? Does the baby acquire the citizenship, parentage, adoption status and legal rights of the intended parents.