Herbert Krimmel: The Case Against Surrogate Parenting

Purdy defends surrogate mothering from a consequentialist point of view. Her case is founded on two premises: firstly, that surrogacy is favourable (that is, it brings about pleasure and reduces pain), and secondly, that the practice is only non-traditional and not morally reprehensible. She thus concludes that "appealing to the sacrosanctity of traditional marriage or of blood ties to prohibit otherwise acceptable practices that would satisfy people 's desires hardly makes sense", and thus, surrogacy should be permissible (Purdy, 1999).

In 1986, there was a surrogacy case that called into question the rights of surrogate mothers and the rights of the family that employed the surrogate. The famed Baby M case revolved around the contract between Mary Beth Whitehead and William Stern and his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth had a severe medical condition that could be aggravated by pregnancy. Therefore, the Sterns reached out for a surrogate. The Sterns would compensate Ms. Whitehead a sum of $10,000 for carrying the child to term and relinquishing all parental rights. Ms. Whitehead would have parental rights because she was a traditional surrogate, which involves using the surrogate’s egg and donor sperm. The other form of surrogacy is gestational,

There are two standard justifications for the market which include the welfare/utilitarian and the libertarian justifications. Looking specifically at the libertarian view of the free market, one would see that markets are established and upheld in order to protect individual’s rights or liberties. This implies that people are free to act however they please within those rights regardless of the outcomes that may occur from their market decisions. Going along with this, libertarians argue that the very nature of freedom is getting what the individual wants. This can be seen clearly in the libertarian statement that individuals have unlimited rights to their own bodies and lives. In the “baby M” case mentioned earlier, libertarians would argue that the buying and selling of reproductive capacities or the selling of babies, in general, is allowed on the market. A libertarian owns their body and can dispose of them in anyway that they choose which expands to surrogate pregnancies. Libertarians agree with this due to the fact that people have “the right to do whatever we want with the things we own” which include their bodies. However, this is a conditional statement saying that the only way someone can do what they want with their life or body is “provided we respect other people’s rights to do the same” (Sandel, pg. 59-60). The “baby M” case, respects self-ownership if everyone owns themselves. Therefore, surrogates are allowed as long as the individual owns their body and other libertarians continue to respect other individual’s

In the context of classical Marxism, the moral permissibility of surrogate motherhood is forcefully negated. Marxism condemns the practice of surrogacy as an exemplification of commodity fetishism in capitalist society, viewing surrogacy arrangements as a commercialization of the female womb. The term, “commodification of the womb,” thus arises to describe the process by which services carried out by the female womb are sold and purchased on the market. Through such transactions, the surrogate’s body and the infant it produces are transformed from subjects to objects that have both exchange value and use value in their commodified state.

The state and/or federal laws in regarding to this case, "the Stern's initially won the case Ms. Whitehead on who should have custody of Baby M, but the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1987 awarded Ms. Whitehead parental rights, although the Stern continued to have primary custody" (Hyman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, V, 2016). This case demonstrated the two types of surrogacy agreements: altruistic surrogacy and commercial surrogacy. An altruistic surrogacy, the surrogate mother is essential carrying the child as an act of kindness and only reimbursed for the expenses the surrogate mother incurred as a termination of the pregnancy and she does not accept any payment and does not charge the parents a birthing fee for her service and the surrogate

Surrogate motherhood agreements have motivated widespread public, governmental and academic debate. Surrogacy refers to a practice when another woman carries and gives birth to a baby for the couple who want to have a child. Full surrogacy (also known as Host or Gestational) involves the implantation of an embryo created using either:

In this video, I learned many things about surrogacy and donor parents. When a woman is trying to have a baby but fails to succeed, she often turns to alternative ways. One of the first things she may try is artificial insemination or IFV. Both of these treatments are ways to conceive a child and carry it in your own womb. There are many times that women want to have their own biological child, but it will not work. The next for women in this situation is surrogacy. Surrogacy is when another women carries a child and then gives it to the women to raise as her own. This often has many problems because either the surrogate mother wants to keep the child or the other mother decides she does not want to have a baby anymore.

Commercial surrogacy is becoming a growing practice worldwide, where the surrogate mother is “anyone who is paid money to bear a child for other people and terminates her parental rights, so that the others may raise the child as exclusively their own” (Anderson 71). People may imply that such an act is morally and ethically wrong, but to a utilitarian, it is believed that commercial surrogacy is morally right because it is providing the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It allows for everyone to be happy, the couple/family will have a baby, and the surrogate mother will receive a monetary reward and the joy of being able to give birth for another family. The overall outcome of the action is morally good.

The government does not always make surrogacy safe and surrogacy can be a very dangerous thing. Surrogacy can get very dangerous because there is always risks for pregnancies and when something bad does happen the families will argue and it will be a bad situation which is why it should not be allowed at all (Surrogate Motherhood). Surrogacy should not be allowed at all it is a danger to our world and is offensive to religions. Surrogacy is bad for children. When kids grow up they will be confused on who their real parents are. It can be very scarring for children because they will wonder why that would ever have to happen and how it happened. Surrogacy can be very awkward for children when they grow up. It can lead to a very confusing relationship between the child and the mother and no child should ever have to go through a damaging experience like that (Surrogate Motherhood). The act of surrogacy is against many religions beliefs and many religions do not like surrogacy happening around the world. “Church leaders share these concerns and are working to stymie commercial surrogacy legislation in states across the nation” (Persons, Not Products). Surrogacy is especially bad because women who bear another child for another woman or person can get money from it and getting money from another human being for a child is offensive. Churches are against all kinds of surrogacy and think it is against the bible. They are especially against commercial surrogacy because it is like slavery. Humans should not be given to another family involving money it is very inhumane. The Roman Catholic Church is just one of many religions that does not like the idea of surrogacy. It is very inhuman, even if it does not involve money. Commercial surrogacy can be found to be very offensive because a woman should never bear another child for a different family (Surrogate

An issue that I found interesting this week was commercial surrogacy that we read in chapter 7 Gender & Family: The Restructuring of Social Relationships. I found commercial surrogacy not only interesting but shocking because I had heard about it in movies and on TV but I did not know there were clinics that had surrogate mothers. Commercial surrogacy is when a surrogate mother is compensated for her service in addition to the medical expenses. In the article Childbirth at the Global Crossroads, the author Arlie Russell Hochschild mentions the Akanksha clinic connects clients from rich countries to surrogate mothers. One of the quotes that grabbed my attention was “ Even if the law were written to protect surrogates and then actually enforced, it would do nothing to address the crushing poverty that often presses Indian women to “choose” surrogacy in the first place.” I find this shocking because women's only solution to escape poverty is through surrogacy. I wonder if there are any medical complications and if the baby dies, will the surrogate mother still get paid for her services?

Surrogate mothers are being taken benefit of by intending parents. For example, leaving a child behind due to gender or diseases detected such as Down syndrome. The surrogate mother is left to bring up a child by herself and is not given extra support such as money or she is left with the option of getting an abortion. There have been some exceptions such as the Baby Gammy case where the surrogate mother was told to have an abortion, but she decided to go through with the pregnancy and asked the intending parents to give her an extra amount of money to bring up the baby by herself. Even though this has happened to a surrogate mother, it is rare. Not every surrogate mother goes through this injustice. There are many couples that have gone through surrogacy and introduce their child to their surrogate mother and culture. The point I am trying to make is that this injustice is not common but happens in rare occasions, and due to the act of just a few people, it should not be taken away from the many people who wish to start their own family (with a genetic link) through surrogacy as there are unable to do so due to biological

The purpose of this essay is to discuss on whether surrogate mothers or those donating gametes for research and in fertility treatment of others receive remuneration for their contribution beyond what is currently offered. This will be done by defining the relevant concepts and associated terminology, discuss on the physical and emotional impact that may occur, the different factors that may lead to exploitation and finally considering what could be done to prevent exploitation.

The traditional road to motherhood eluded Vicki Juditz. Having waited until age 36 to start trying for a baby, the actress and writer soon learned that reproductive problems had reduced her chances of conceiving to about 1% (Zimmerman 1). In the article written by Janet Zimmerman after her interview of actress Vicki Juditz, Juditz explains, "My husband and I had very full lives and I guess we didn't feel the pressure, we thought everything would fall into place when we were ready. I just assumed I would have children some day" (Zimmerman 1). In vitro fertilization put Juditz and her husband on the path to parenthood and their surrogate helped them to get there. Their story is the subject of a play written and performed b Juditz and

Everyone has their own personal beliefs, values, morals and ethics regarding to surrogacy. For instance, some may believe that surrogacy is wrong and that it exploits women while others believe that surrogacy is a beautiful thing where a woman is able to give a gift of life to intended parents who are unable to conceive. My personal beliefs are that surrogacy is perfectly fine and people should be allowed to have access to surrogate services without being looked down upon. For example, I believe that people should not say that surrogacy is wrong especially if they themselves have not experienced infertility and even if they have, they should not relate their own personal experiences with others since each person’s life experience is unique

What kind of women become surrogates? The ones who have no heart or the ones who have such big heart that they are willing to carry a child for someone else? Surrogacy comes with costs, pain and risks but it also comes with happiness, love and appreciation. This is a job for a woman who is super strong and won’t become sentimental and attached when the baby arrives. It’s had to carry a child for nine months and then just give it to someone else. Artificial Insemination was first created to help couples to have a baby in case of male sub-fertility or because either the woman or man had a physical or psychological trait they didn 't want their child to have. But in this decade, Artificial Insemination has been used more commonly in women that are lesbians or women that have no partner at all, this is where you have to go to a sperm donor to get sperm since there is no male partner.