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Surrogacy and the rights of the child essay
Discussion about surrogacy
Discussion about surrogacy
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Surrogacy is an international practice. The use of other women to carry people’s babies is a common and legal practice in many countries. To fully understand why this is a moral issue, you need to understand what it is.
A surrogate is a woman who is carrying a baby for another person. Surrogacy is used for many reasons by different couples. The crowd drawn to surrogacy is couples who are infertile and cannot have kids. Such couples include: couples who are too old, couples who are in a homosexual relationship and people who just want a baby by themselves and can’t have one. This is a way for many people to avoid the complicated adoption laws. Though, there are some strong laws in the United States of America that support or oppose surrogacy in its many forms. There is a variety of ways to have a child using surrogacy.
A traditional surrogate is a woman who is carrying a baby that is from her own egg. The intended parents can pick if they want to use their own sperm if available or they can pick a donor’s. A Gestational surrogate carries a baby that is not in any way genetically related to her. The baby can be made from the couples own sperm and egg or they can get a donor for one or both sperm and egg.
The commercial surrogates have a few requirements that need to be met that are universal from all agencies. The first is an obvious one. You need to be in good health both physically and mentally. They wish you to have carried at least one baby healthy and to full term then safely delivered the baby. This is to help them reassure the couples that their baby will be safe. They on average need to be younger than 43 years old. This also helps prevent complications. They want them to be in a stable living environment. They also...
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Flynn, Father John.Online posting. Articles by Father John Flynn, LC. Zenith. Zenith, 9 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
Brinsden, Peter. "Gestational surrogacy." Human Reproduction. 9.5 (2003): 483-491. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
"Surrogacy Laws." Surrogacy View. Fertility Council, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Mirkes, Sister Renée . "The Injustices of the Surrogacy Industry." The Catholic World Report 1 Aug. 2013: n. pag. The Catholic World Report. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Arora, Ishika. "Wombs for Rent: Outsourcing Surrogacy to India." Public Health 10 Jan. 2012: n. pag. Prospect. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
Surrogate pregnancy was talked about and questioned in the early 1970’s but was not put into practice until 1976. The first case documented actually comes from the bible. It was the story of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah talks about her experience with infertility. She then turns to Hagar, her handmaiden, and asks her if she would carry their child for them since she was unable to. Hagar was their maid so in a way it was a command, not exactly a favor or question.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland writes in a 2002 paper she presented to the XVIII European Congress of Perinatal Medicine, “There is an ongoing “epidemic” of cesarean sections in Asia and Latin America. This worldwide fad of obstetrical interventions may have a serious negative health impact on women. In contrast, the low rates observed in Africa reflect a lack of resources more than a consensus of providers. The commercial and litigation pressures that drive this ‘epidemic’ need to be countered.” Her medical metaphor notwithstanding, this is a serious wake-up call for women to be asking the question, “What is going on that this phenomenon of major surgery on women is happening on such a wide scale?”
"Abortion: In Law, History & Religion." Childbirth By Choice Trust. May 1995. 26 April 2004. <http://www.cbctrust.com/abortion.html>
Karen (1997) proposed that contact surrogacy contracts in the social development process increasingly prominent infertility problems. The advances in biomedical technology may provide a technical solution to this problem. The impact of surrogacy on traditional family values and the impact of the law are subversive. It has changed the traditional ways of the establishment of parentage. It also raised many moral and ethical disputes that whether surrogacy should be legalized. What should the theoretical basis lie in? Legislation should be based on what mechanism to adjust the surrogate. This essay is based on the interpretation of the legality of surrogacy contracts, trying to determine the conditions of its validity and scope.
A surrogacy is the carrying of a pregnancy for intended parents. There are two kinds of surrogacy: “Gestational”, in which the egg and sperm belong to the intended parents and is carried by the surrogate, and “traditional”, where the surrogate is inseminated with the intended father’s sperm. Regardless of the method, I believe that surrogacy cannot be morally justified. Surrogacy literally means “substitute”, or “replacement”. A surrogate is a replacement for a mother for that 9-month period of pregnancy, and therefore is reducing the role of the surrogate mother to an oversimplified and dehumanizing labor. The pregnancy process for the gestational mother can be very physically and mentally demanding, and is unique because after birthing the
The advancement and continued developments of third-party assisted reproductive medical practices has allowed many prospective parents, regardless of their marital status, age, or sexual orientation, to have a new opportunity for genetically or biologically connected children. With these developments come a number of rather complex ethical issues and ongoing discussions regarding assisted reproduction within our society today. These issues include the use of reproductive drugs, gestational services such as surrogacy as well as the rights of those seeking these drugs and services and the responsibilities of the professionals who offer and practice these services.
ProQuest Staff. "At Issue: Abortion, Moral and Ethical Aspects." ProQuest LLC. 2011: n.pag. SIRS Researcher. Web. 14 Apr 2011.
from USA to India for assistance reproduction. Lisa doesn’t have the ability to carry a baby and
The addition of a child into a family’s home is a happy occasion. Unfortunately, some families are unable to have a child due to unforeseen problems, and they must pursue other means than natural pregnancy. Some couples adopt and other couples follow a different path; they utilize in vitro fertilization or surrogate motherhood. The process is complicated, unreliable, but ultimately can give the parents the gift of a child they otherwise could not have had. At the same time, as the process becomes more and more advanced and scientists are able to predict the outcome of the technique, the choice of what child is born is placed in the hands of the parents. Instead of waiting to see if the child had the mother’s eyes, the father’s hair or Grandma’s heart problem, the parents and doctors can select the best eggs and the best sperm to create the perfect child. Many see the rise of in vitro fertilization as the second coming of the Eugenics movement of the 19th and early 20th century. A process that is able to bring joy to so many parents is also seen as deciding who is able to reproduce and what child is worthy of birthing.
Lenox, Naomi. (1999). When Fertility Therapy Runs Amok: Debating the ethics and dangers of multiple births. Midwest Today. Retrieved November 1, 2004, from the World Wide Web: http://www.midtod.com/fertility.phtml
Surrogacy is becoming extremely popular as a way for people to build their families and women to have a source of income. Many people have various reasons for their opposition to it whether it be by comparing it to prostitution or disagreeing with how military wives take advantage of the Tricare insurance. Lorraine Ali states in her article “The Curious Lives of Surrogates” that one of the more popular reasons to oppose surrogacy is that it contradicts, “what we’ve always thought of as an unbreakable bond between mother and child.” However, a woman’s inability to conceive her own children does not determine the absence of a mother to child bond.
Gestational surrogacy, especially when it involves commercial surrogates, challenges the status quo in the ethical theory of reproduction, because with this technology the process of producing a child can no longer remain a private matter. Now a public contract exists between two parties, the couple and the surrogate ...
Arguments against commercial surrogacy typically revolve around the idea that surrogacy is a form of child-selling. Critics believe that commercial surrogacy violates both women’s and children’s rights. In addition, by making surrogacy contracts legally enforceable, courts will follow the contract rather than choose what is best for the child. However, in her article “Surrogate Mothering: Exploring Empowerment” Laura Pudry is not convinced by these arguments.
A woman enters into a contract that consists on her getting pregnant with a strangers sperms, and after the baby is born, to give up the baby. The stranger is going to pay the medical expenses and $10,000 in exchange of claiming all the parental rights when the baby is born. The stranger is a good person who has not been able to have children on his own. Why does the morality of the action may seem doubtful? Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson wrote an essay called “is Women’s Labor a Commodity?” to explain in detail the reasons of commercial surrogacy being morally wrong. In her paper, Anderson explains that commercial surrogacy treats children and parental rights as objects that could be bought and sold for personal convenience. According to
Most young people envision their future in the realm of getting married and creating a family. One of the most devastating things that can happen to a young couple is to be told they cannot have children. There are several options the couple can pursue, and one of those options available is surrogacy. Society today is torn on whether or not surrogacy should be legal in today’s world. Surrogacy is very controversial for many people around the world, and opinions are strong on the subject. Surrogacy is defined as the utilization of a third party female in order for a infertile family to create a biological child for their family. Legalized surrogacy is important to many couples as an option of creating the family they have always dreamed