Surrogacy Ethics Autonomy Relationship Harm Analysis

Payne (2018) supports surrogacy by demonstrating that the woman\\\\\\\'s autonomy should be the determinant for whether she wants to become a surrogate or not. Autonomy is the right to determine what is right for an individual based on their understanding and willingness. Therefore, when it comes to surrogacy, the woman should be allowed to decide what she wants. Due to the nature of surrogacy in other areas where the intended couple pays the surrogate mother, most people tend to view this as the commercialization of surrogacy. With commercialization, people believe women are forced into the trade by other third-party players. However, Payne (2018), argues for the women who opt for surrogacy by demonstrating they are doing so out of their willingness to assist others. We cannot take away the autonomy of surrogate mothers because we believe they are being paid. Everyone should have the right to determine how they wish to live their lives. Therefore, we cannot in good authority stand up and say surrogate mothers should be denied the opportunity to live their lives as they wish. The decision to become a surrogate is a personal one, and it is only the surrogate mother who knows for sure if they are willing or not. We, as the onlookers, cannot determine this for the surrogate mother.

Surrogate mothers can want to assist either a sister or a friend, and they offer their womb to them. The underlying issue is that the women determine if she wants to assist or does not want to assist (Payne, 2018). Preserving the autonomy of the surrogate mother should be the moral compass we use to analyze the morality of surrogacy. According to the Swedish Governmental Investigator, there was an argument that the women might become surrogates out of pressure from their family or friends and not because they are truly willing to assist (Payne, 2018). However, determining the motivator for the women is not easy since surrogacy is a personal decision.

On the other hand, Krause (2018) argues against surrogacy by showing us how there is a disintegration of private and intimate relationships. When the surrogate mother carries the child, a bond is formed between the mother and child, which is broken after birth. Also, the financial incentive received by the surrogate mother cannot make her decision purely autonomous. Due to the payment she receives, the surrogate mother could be motivated by the money, and she would only be helping the intended parents since she is being paid. If there was no payment, chances are high she would not offer her womb to the intended parents. While the woman has the autonomy to determine what she does with her body, the principle of utilitarianism comes to play since there is harm done to the woman in terms of broken relationships and feelings of loss. When the woman agreed to assist the intended parents to have their child, she willingly made the decision, but as with all human matters, there are bonds formed, and perspectives can change in those nine months (Krause, 2018). Therefore, the woman does not receive the pleasure or happiness of raising the child. Immediately the baby is born, it is taken away from the woman, and she is left with a feeling of loss that cannot be filled. For this reason, Krause (2018) denotes broken relationships and pushes us to look at surrogacy from the perspective of relationships and not from an ethical perspective.