Surrogate mothers are women who agree to carry and give birth to a child or children to be raised by another couple or person. Arrangements with surrogate mothers are often made by couples with fertility problems, and laws dictating the legality of this practice vary from one country to the next. But beyond the legal and medical considerations, which can be very complex, there are complex ethical issues that should be considered prior to entering a surrogate mother agreement.
Gestational Mother Attachment
In a surrogate mother arrangement, the gestational mother is the woman who carries the baby to term. One common objection raised by critics of surrogate motherhood, according to "Surrogate Motherhood: International Perspectives" by Rachel Cook, Shelley Day Sclater and Felicity Kaganas, is a belief that the gestational mother inevitably develops a relationship with the child she carries, and relinquishing the child after this can be difficult and emotionally taxing. However, the authors paint this as a misconception, stressing that most surrogate mothers take deliberate steps throughout the process to mentally and emotionally prepare themselves, as well as emotionally detach themselves from the infants they carry.
Gestational Mother Involvement
The gestational mother in a surrogacy arrangement is unquestionably an important part of the child's background and, depending on the manner of surrogacy chosen, may be genetically linked to the child. However, since the gestational mother will not be the child's primary caretaker, and since typical surrogate mother arrangements involve full parental rights being transferred to another party, there will naturally be questions about the extent to which the gestational mother should be involved in the child's life. Such arrangements are often decided in advance and specified in legal contracts between the surrogate mother and the intended parents or parent. In some arrangements, the identities of the two parties are never revealed to one another. In others, the gestational mother may be granted legal visitation rights. There are plenty of other types of arrangements, with no rules dictating right or wrong. But it is important for this arrangement to be thought out, agreed upon and perhaps established in legal terms prior to beginning the surrogacy.
Child Identity
An issue closely related to gestational mother involvement, as well as to special considerations of adoption, is how the identity of the child will be affected by the surrogacy. Some parents may choose to never tell their child about the surrogate arrangement. Others may tell the child as soon as they're old enough to understand. Others still may wait until the child turns 18. In any circumstance, knowledge or lack thereof regarding the surrogate arrangement may have an effect on the child's self-identity. Right and wrong in this case are also not well-defined, though the decision is worthy of careful thought and gentle handling.
Compensation
In some surrogacy arrangements, often when the aspiring parents do not know the gestational mother personally, the gestational mother is financially compensated for her services. It is not uncommon for the aspiring parents to pay for related medical expenses and even things such as meals, housing and maternity wear throughout the pregnancy, but some couples with the means to do so may pay what amounts to a fee to the gestational mother. Ethical criticisms of this practice, according to Cook, Sclater and Kaganas, include the view that this is a luxury available only to the wealthy and that it amounts to pregnancy-for-hire. Some critics also say that this presents an opportunity for wealthy, fertile couples to choose surrogacy rather than endure the strain involved in pregnancy.
References
- "Surrogate Motherhood: International Perspectives"; Rachel Cook, Shelley Day Sclater, Felicity Kaganas; 2003
- Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: Ethical Problems Surrounding Surrogate Motherhood
- National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature: Surrogate Motherhood--Ethical and Legal Issues
- CBC News: Paid surrogacy driven underground in Canada
