Surrogacy

In the process of reproduction, when the partners who want to have kids are unable to complete it in an ordinary situation for various reasons, they need to resort to reproductive technologies. These techniques include sperm and egg freezing, IVF, surrogacy, etc. However, the intervention of these technologies changes the original natural form of reproduction and therefore raises a number of ethical issues. One of the most controversial, in my opinion, is the issue of surrogacy. Unlike other reproductive technologies, surrogacy is a technology that involves a third party, the surrogate mother. The client needs to reproduce with the surrogate mother’s body. Whether the woman’s body is controlled and used in this process, and how the woman who undertakes surrogacy will be harmed, is a serious question. In an ethnographic study (2015), it can be learned that women who undertake surrogacy are not well rewarded. They do not earn much and live in bad conditions during the pregnancy. In addition to material things, they are emotionally disturbed and are not allowed to have communication with their clients. Surrogate women live in a controlled environment with no freedom. Women do not have complete subjectivity in surrogacy and their existence is weakened to an organ, a womb (VPRO Metropolis, 2014). One reason for this is the unequal colonial order and class order. Surrogacy has become a huge market in which capital operates, creating an assembly line production. The women who participate in surrogacy mostly belong to the poor class in third world countries or developed countries, who lack the means to earn a living and participate in the surrogacy industry in response to market demand. The second reason is the reality of gender inequality worldwide. Women are still treated as symbols of the womb, similar to a tool. This fact manifests itself not only in the issue of surrogacy, but also in many marriages. In some unequal marriages in China, the wife is the equivalent of a free surrogate mother. The husband and the husband’s family will place demands on the wife, such as the need to produce male offspring. The issue of surrogacy is a reflection of the whole plight of women.

References

Rudrappa, S. and Collins, C., 2015. Altruistic Agencies and Compassionate Consumers: Moral Framings of Transnational Surrogacy. Gender and Society, 29(6), pp. 937-959

VPRO Metropolis., 2014. Commercial surrogacy in India | VPRO Metropolis. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYVR0vXEdn8