Surrogacy

Surrogacy—also called surrogate motherhood, surrogate parenting, and contract pregnancy—refers to the practice of a woman becoming pregnant and bearing a child with the intention of giving the child born from the arrangement to another couple or person to raise. In what is now referred to as traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother becomes pregnant with her own ovum, usually via insemination with the sperm of the intended father. This is the type of surrogacy arrangement that was involved in the 1980s Baby M case, the first official case of surrogacy. With the increasing success of in vitro techniques in the decades since Baby M, most surrogacy transactions are now what is referred to as gestational surrogacy—the birth mother has no genetic tie to the baby she bears because she is implanted with an embryo usually conceived from the egg and sperm of the intended parents. The phenomenon of surrogacy has caused much debate among feminists and others about whether the practice furthers or diminishes women's reproductive rights, whether it challenges or reinforces traditional notions of family, and what the state's role should be in regulating the use of assisted reproductive techniques.

Surrogacy's emergence in the late 20th century as a new way to produce babies and families is often discussed in relation to the rise of assisted reproductive technologies, from in vitro fertilization to preimplan-tation diagnosis. As with public reaction to other new reproductive techniques, there was initially much discomfort about the seemingly unnatural processes involved in these new family formations and concerns about the impact such transactions would have on women and children. Some religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church, vigorously oppose surrogacy as breaking the sacrosanct bond between husbands and wives by undermining the marital union's sacred purpose of procreation through sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, many feminists are concerned about the commodification and exploitation of women's reproductive capacities, and some view surrogacy as a form of reproductive prostitution. Connected to these concerns, feminists critical of the practice believe that poor women's and women of color's bodies will be used to replace the reproductive labor of white, middle-class women, as wet nurses did in previous eras. Another feminist critique of surrogacy is that its focus on producing biological children reinforces a narrow notion of family as solely determined by genetic ties. Additionally, with traditional surrogacy—the form most transactions took in the beginning years—some feminists argue that the practice solely benefits men's patriarchal desire for biological progeny. Those opposed to surrogacy view legal bans on commercial surrogacy as an appropriate political solution to discourage the practice.

Yet, from the beginning, there was support for the practice, particularly from infertile couples that saw it as an important reproductive option that could provide them with a desired child. There were also feminists who viewed surrogacy as a practice that could potentially challenge essentialist ideas that link women's biological capacity to reproduce with assumed innate female characteristics associated with the caring of children. Some feminists saw as liberating the separation of biological motherhood from women's social roles and obligations as mothers in the raising of [Page 824]children. As a result, feminists that support the practice view it as expanding definitions of who can be a mother and what constitutes a family. Some liberal feminists also view bans on the practice as demeaning to women as they define procreative freedom as the ability to choose what to do with one's body, including becoming a surrogate. Those more supportive of surrogacy view state regulation of the practice as a way to make sure these transactions proceed with as few problems as possible while protecting the rights of all parties involved.

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