Science today has made an enormous progress and brought marvellous changes to human life. With a lot of technical gifts to mankind science has proved to be a boon for the entire society. In this reign of technology not having a child no more appears to be a bane and can only be recorded in the pages of history. Science now allows a woman to carry a child for other couple in her womb and the technology that made it possible is known as surrogacy. The practice emerges as a hope to many of the couples and even for the financially burdened women who actually carries the baby. The revolutionary technological advancements continuously striving for betterment have made miracles possible. So far it appears to be a bright and attractive practice. But the important question here: ‘is the practice actually as attractive as it appears to be?’ has been surrounded by a lot of criticism. The ugly truth about the practice stands as firm as the beautiful ones.
The practice of surrogacy however, being a descendent of science is sure to have various advantages. Fore mostly, Surrogacy acts as the only ray of hope for the infertile couple to become biological parents. When a mother is not able to enjoy the happiness of having a baby due to medical complications the couple can opt for the practice of surrogacy. In such a case the surrogate agencies provide the opportunity for choosing a surrogate mother to carry the baby. It thus allows the couple to bear the title of ‘parents’. Secondly, it also provides a financial advantage to the lady acting as a surrogate mother for the couple which in turn helps her to heighten up her economic condition. Therefore the practice yet again emerges as a ray of hope, particularly for the poor and vulnerable section of the society. Thirdly, while carrying the baby for several months, surrogate mother develops an emotional attachment with the child. This emotional attachment, in future compels her to provide a lovable environment assisting the child whenever he/she needs. Yet another interesting advantage of surrogacy is the boost it provides to national economy making it a technique available to uplift the status of a country lacking in other resources. Summing all up, the conclusion extracted is that the practice plays a major role in uplifting the poor section of the society which to an extent elevates the economy of entire country. But is the practice as attractive as it appears? Are there no ugly factors trying to put a mark of imperfection on the advantageous image of surrogacy? Of course there are! But are these reasons strong enough to overshadow the brightness of the advantages is what is needed to be addressed. It would surely be ill advised to seek shelter behind simplistic yes or no.
The question of ethics has always been revolving around the issue of surrogacy. However, factors like exploitation by intermediaries and threat of life to the surrogate mother have been an eyebrow raising issue. The involvement of intermediaries lessens the actual worth of the practice that otherwise could have been provided to the woman acting as the surrogate mother. If the process would have been more transparent with the surrogate mother receiving the actual worth of her work, her health would not have a major issue of concern. Due to less payment and her poor economic condition, she keeps on getting indulged in the procedure which in turns affects her health adversely. She even, is compelled against her own consent to get involved in the practice of surrogacy making it a mala fide business. Moreover the emotional attachment of the surrogate mother subjects her to mental trauma, on being separated from the child she was carrying for several months. Yet another fraudulent activity that related to surrogacy is the decision regarding future of the child. The question about the future of the child if the parents refuse to accept him/her later is a point requiring a lot of discussions. Another factor that plays an important role in worsening the image of surrogacy is the question dealing with child’s nationality. When a couple hires a surrogate mother of another country and the surrogate mother give birth to the child in her own country, the child gets a question mark automatically attached to his/her nationality. A finger is further pointed on the legitimacy of the process by the critics. The narrow minded people try to impose an allegation of legitimacy as they do not believe that science can carry out the process originally completed by the nature. They thus question the existence of child born through surrogacy.
Although a lot of negative factors try to suppress the benefits involved with the practice, but they surely cannot be strong enough to hide the attractiveness of the advantages. Some legitimate contract must rather be designed in order to decide the fate of child. Further strict rules and regulations must be there to guide the entire process especially focusing on the dishonest intentions that the surrogate mother is subjected to and even bringing the question of nationality in the limelight. Instead of pulling the practice of surrogacy to the zone of allegations, approaches need to be developed to find an optimistic solution from a messed up basket.
References
Blog.lib.umn.edu,. (2014). Academic Source: Surrogacy: The Psychological Issues - feminist debates: gwss 3004. Retrieved 17 November 2014, from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/puot0002/3004/2010/02/academic-source-surrogacy-the-psychological-issues.html
Fazli Khalaf, Z., Shafiabadi, A., & Tarahomi, M. (2014). Psychological Aspects of Surrogate Motherhood.Journal Of Reproduction And Infertility, 43-49. Retrieved from http://www.jri.ir/en/showarticle.aspx?id=305
Jadva, V. (2003). Surrogacy: the experiences of surrogate mothers. Human Reproduction, 18(10), 2196-2204. doi:10.1093/humrep/deg397
Meinke, S. (1988). Surrogate Motherhood. Bioethics Research Library, Kennedy Institute Of Ethics, Georgetown University. Retrieved from https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/556906
van Zyl, L. (2000). Interpretations, perspectives and intentions in surrogate motherhood. Journal Of Medical Ethics, 26(5), 404-409. doi:10.1136/jme.26.5.404
