Should surrogate motherhood be legal?
Resources used to support "no."
Surrogate motherhood is an agreement between the adopting couple
and an agency or a surrogate mother. Whether negotiated privately
or through an agency, it is a highly emotional situation involving
large amounts of time, money and patience. This complicated
arrangement is legal in a few states, but illegal in others.
Because of many factors, this process may be a success or a
failure. For example, many surrogate mothers wrestle with
emotional issues of letting a baby go after its birth. And many
adopting couples have to deal with legal snags and the ethics of
buying a baby. Many people question whether it is really worth the
time and trouble to enter a surrogacy arrangement just to have a
child in this manner. [Laura Matthies]
WWW
- Surrogacy
This Web site provides a brief overview of surrogate
motherhood with links to other resources on the Web. It discusses
the methods involved in surrogacy, its cost, the pluses and minuses
of the procedure, and its success rate. This information is
provided by a resource center that provides baby care information.
[Recommended by Laura Matthies.]
-
Baby "M" & Surrogate Parenting 1987-1988
This is the case that caused everyone who was considering
surrogacy-adoption to think twice. Baby M ended with her custody
being given to her biological father and the adopting mother was
denied her right to be a parent because the surrogate mother
changed her mind about the adoption. [Recommended by Laura
Matthies.]
- Overview of Laws and Legal Precedents Affecting Surrogate
Arrangements.
This article discusses the risk that hopeful adopting
parents may face. There are no uniform regulations on surrogacies,
and surrogate mothers are often exploited for their ability to
conceive - while their agencies reap the profits from the fees
charged to the adopting parents. [Recommended by Laura
Matthies.]
- Surrogacy
In this paper, Meg Wallace discusses the implication of
making surrogacy legal in Australia and includes a summary of their
national debate about surrogacy. In that country, legalization and
enforcement allows the government to decide who is fit or unfit to
act as a surrogate mother. [Recommended by Laura
Matthies.]
Journal Articles
- Lester, Eva P. 1995. A surrogate carries a fertilized ovum:
Multiple crossings in ego boundaries. Journal of Psycho-
Analysis, 76:325-334.
This article discusses a case study of an infertile
woman who enlisted the aid of a surrogate mother. In this case,
there was much confusion in the relationship between the surrogate
and the genetic mother. [Recommended by Laura
Matthies.]
- Ragone, Helen. 1994. Chasing the blood tie: Surrogate
mothers, adoptive mothers and fathers. American
Ethnologist.
This article discusses the arrangement involved in
surrogacy and gives the pros and cons of these arrangements.
[Recommended by Laura Matthies.]
