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Surrogate Motherhood
Surrogate motherhood is thought to be a treatment option for infertile mothers or an alternative to adoption (Bagan-Kurluta, 2017). At its face value, surrogacy seems like an attractive alternative for the infertile couple and the surrogate mother as all parties will benefit from the arrangement. The infertile couple will get their long-desired biologically related child, and the surrogate mother will receive much-needed money when paid to carry the pregnancy (Bagan-Kurluta, 2017). According to utilitarianism, there should be maximum happiness and well-being for all the affected individuals. However, this is not the case for surrogate motherhood. The mother is denied the chance to raise the child she had carried through the pregnancy term. There is a feeling of loss and unhappiness experienced by the surrogate mother. The connection between the mother and child is broken after birth, and psychological torture is placed on the child. The child and surrogate mother share a unique bond, disrupted after the child is born, resulting in an emotional disconnection.
The pros for the surrogate mother are surrogacy is rewarding for the surrogate mother since most women offer the service as a gift to another family. Surrogacy allows the surrogate mother to experience pregnancy without having to worry about raising the child (Bagan-Kurluta, 2017). The pregnancy experience benefits the surrogate mother since they can feel like a woman even when they do not have the funds to raise the child. The surrogate mother is fairly compensated for the yearlong commitment they make to carry the child to term.
The cons for the surrogate mother are surrogacy is emotionally challenging and stressful. The stress of pregnancy is compounded with the knowledge that you are carrying someone else's baby (Bagan-Kurluta, 2017). Surrogacy is physically demanding since the surrogate mother must undergo additional screening, go for appointments, and undertake fertility treatment. Surrogacy can be time-consuming as the surrogate mother has to meet with the potential couple, attend legal meetings, undergo medical processes, screening appointments, and commit a whole year to carry the pregnancy to term. Eventually, the surrogate mother only has money to show for the efforts she achieved during the yearlong process of surrogacy.
References
Bagan-Kurluta, K. (2017). Wombs for rent, outsoursed pregnancies, baby farms-ethics and surrogate motherhood. Progress in Health Sciences, 7, 193-198.
Surrogate Parents For many infertile couples, the assistance of a surrogate mother represents one last hope for becoming a genetic parent. They thus turn to surrogate mothers, or women who bear children for couples who cannot become parents through normal pregnancy and childbirth (Gentry). With careful preparation on both sides, surrogate parenting can be a viable option for couples to conceive a child and add to their family. For many critics, the
Some surrogates know the couple, and volunteer their services. Others do it simply because they want to help a couple that is childless. Four authors continue, "One woman said, ' I wanted to do something that was out of the ordinary and that made me a little bit special'" (Dooley, McCarthy, Garanis-Papadatos, and Dalla-Yorgia 57). In other cases, the surrogate may be a friend or relative of the couple,
Patient Rights and Informed Consent The relevant legal issues at stake in this case are those related to the question of whether Mr. Jones is indeed incompetent and if Mr. Jones is indeed incompetent then what is the authority that should be assigned to the surrogate daughter of the patient in this case. The hospital physician and staff must avoid legal liability and ensure that they are in adherence to
Ethics The Terri Schiavo case was an unusual incident where a person who should have been removed from life support long ago was sustained due to federal and public intervention. The case instigates moral and ethical questions of decision to end life as well as the limits of autonomy in surrogate decision making. Torke et al. (2008) argue that guardian judgment is often used as decision-making when a patient lacks the
For example, the 1984 British government committee report suggested that "it is inconsistent with human dignity that a woman should use her uterus for financial profit and treat it as an incubator for someone else's child," in part because this threatens to undermine the traditional belief in an inviolable mother-child bond. Opponents who criticize commercial surrogacy from this perspective frequently attempt to differentiate between commercial surrogacy and "altruistic" surrogacy, in which