Ethical Issues In Surrogacy

Ethical dilemma of Surrogacy While surrogacy is one potential way to have a baby, many people question the ethical aspect of the practice. For the most part surrogacy is made possible because large “private for-profit agencies which, for a sizeable fee, bring together the contracting parents-to-be and the birthmother” (Field 1159). This demonstrates that companies are making a sizable income at the expense of couples trying to start a family, while the agencies help connect the potential parents with a perspective surrogate mother the amount of money they charge needs to be questioned. The high prices that the surrogacy agencies are able to charge highlights the unfair distribution of money in the surrogacy industry with the surrogate mothers being taken advantage off. When surrogate mothers are mistreated their personal freedom is limited and it demonstrates how …show more content…
Due to severe surrogacy restrictions in France, the Mennessons and Labassees both sought out surrogate mothers in the United States where surrogacy is permitted in certain states. While the fathers in both court cases were genetically related to the babies and the US courts ruled that both fathers were the legal guardians to both babies, French authorities refused to enter the birth certificates in the French register when the couples returned home to France because all types of surrogacy are banned in France (Bracken 371). This highlights that while couples might succeed in finding surrogacy loopholes when the laws do not benefit them at the time, they are not immune to future conflicts. These are just a couple of examples of high profile surrogacy cases, but they all demonstrate how poorly regulated the surrogacy industry is and how there are currently no geographic