Surrogacy: What, why, how?

Surrogacy is changing the nature of reproduction for some modern American families. Women and couples now have a variety of options that allow them to achieve a much desired pregnancy when all hope seems to be lost, but surrogacy offers even in the most impossible cases the opportunity to experience pregnancy. The only difference is that they are not actually holding the child. To understand the nature of parenthood in America today, one must consider surrogate parenting among the variety of reproductive options.

Surrogacy is the practice in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for someone else. Usually this is a contract and the surrogate mother agrees to deliver the baby at birth. The contract may or may not include a financial agreement. There are two alternative forms of surrogacy: traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy is where the surrogate mother donates her egg and is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the man who will become the custodial father. In surrogacy, the embryo (which generally results from the sperm and egg of the future custodial parents) is implanted in the surrogate mother. Surrogacy becomes more confusing in a few cases, as the donor’s egg and semen are implanted into a surrogate.

Commercial surrogacy began in the United States in the late 1970s. An attorney named Noel Keane organized the first third-party-arranged surrogacy and opened a surrogacy agency. The term itself does not appear to have appeared until 1981.

Surrogacy quickly raised a series of ethical and legal dilemmas. Supporters of the practice argue that it provides infertile couples with a means of becoming parents. Opponents claim that surrogacy is nothing more than a form of baby-raising, in which women are reduced to nurturers, physically and emotionally exploited by wealthy couples who take advantage of the surrogate’s financial need. Concerns have also been expressed about the well-being of the surrogate mother after the birth of the child.

It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that surrogacy became a topic of national conversation when the Baby M case entered the media spotlight. In 1985, William Stern and his wife Elizabeth decided that instead of facing the risks of pregnancy, they would seek a surrogate mother so that Mr. Stern could have a child genetically related to him. He hired Mary-Beth Whitehead, a working-class mother of two. The contract stipulated that, upon the child’s birth, Whitehead, in exchange for $ 10,000, would terminate all parental rights for the child, allowing Elizabeth Stern to adopt him. In 1986 a daughter was born, but Whitehead decided that she could not fulfill the agreement. A legal battle ensued in which the courts ruled that the surrogacy contract was valid, thus awarding custody to the Sterns. Later, an appeal ruled that the contract was illegal and invalid, but it was decided that Baby M should remain in the custody of the Sterns, and Whitehead was given visitation rights. The case sparked a lively public debate about the legality of surrogacy and the various definitions of motherhood. To this day, surrogacy remains illegal in New Jersey, where the case took place.

Since the 1970s, an estimated 35,000 children have been born through surrogate arrangements. Surrogacy offers infertile, single, gay and lesbian couples, and many more, the opportunity to become parents. Surrogate mothers come from a variety of backgrounds. They can be married or single mothers. Due to demand, they are often Caucasian, although there is a growing demand for substitutes for other races. Surrogacy has been criticized for exploiting poor women of color, and indeed the typical surrogate mother comes from a low-income background and, in the case of gestational surrogacy, may be of a different race than the parents. genetic (the belief is that a woman will be less likely to change her mind or be awarded custody of a child of another race).

There are still many concerns about avoiding the exploitation of surrogate mothers, preventing a baby carrier black market, and protecting the interests of all parties involved, but some states are implementing procedures to safeguard surrogacy contracts. Despite the media controversy surrounding surrogacy, only a very small percentage of surrogate contracts have been challenged in court. Most surrogacy contracts are fulfilled to the satisfaction of everyone involved. Surrogacy has provided many couples the opportunity to experience pregnancy and childbirth, albeit from a non-traditional point of view.