{"id":32045,"date":"2018-03-07T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=32045"},"modified":"2018-03-07T02:43:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T07:43:08","slug":"surrogacy-for-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2018\/03\/surrogacy-for-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrogacy for Money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After getting married, the next step for most couples is having children.\u00a0\u00a0Now that we have same-sex marriage, there is the impulse for same-sex parenting.\u00a0 But natural law still holds for reproduction, so two married men who want to be parents must find a woman who will bear a child for them.\u00a0 Thus we are seeing a huge increase in the use of surrogate mothers.<\/p>\n

Most states do not permit compensation for surrogate mothers beyond medical expenses.\u00a0 The reasoning is that paying mothers for their babies amounts to buying and selling children.\u00a0 But Washington state has just passed a law that commercializes surrogacy, joining 8 other states<\/a> that allow women to be paid to bear a child and give her baby to the buyers.<\/p>\n

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The practice today for gay couples<\/a> is to employ in vitro<\/em> fertilization, both contributing sperm samples so that they will not know which is the biological father which is used to fertilize a donated egg.\u00a0 The conceived child is then implanted into the womb of the surrogate mother, who thus has no genetic connection to the child she is carrying.\u00a0 Sometimes, though, the surrogate is simply artificially inseminated.<\/p>\n

Up to this point, women who agreed to be surrogate mothers have usually done so out of kindness to their friends or relatives, what is called \u201caltruistic\u201d surrogacy.\u00a0 Some Christians have even taken up this role as a way to help infertile couples.\u00a0 An article on the subject in Christianity Today<\/a>\u00a0quotes a woman who sees surrogacy as a God-given vocation:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGod called me to seek out what seemed like unconventional ways to serve others.\u201d<\/p>\n

But such generosity cannot meet the increasing demand for surrogate mothers.\u00a0 Because of abortion, few American children are available for adoption, and foreign adoptions have become increasingly difficult.\u00a0 Paying women for this service, letting supply and demand set the rates, would seem to be the solution.<\/p>\n

A clinic in California, where commercial surrogacy is legal, charges from $90,000-$130,000<\/a>\u00a0for a baby.\u00a0 Of that, a base rate of $50,000 goes to the mother.\u00a0 The rest goes for medical and legal fees.<\/p>\n

Already, some couples are taking advantage of poor women in less developed countries, particularly India<\/a>, which has turned surrogacy into a $2.5 billion industry, with 500 clinics and women who will bear someone else\u2019s child for a mere $5,000.\u00a0 (India has passed a law banning all but altruistic surrogacy<\/a>, but the practice of commercial surrogacy continues.)\u00a0\u00a0Wesley Smith\u00a0<\/a>calls this practice \u201cbiological colonialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Not all states<\/a> allow even uncompensated surrogacy contracts, which require the mother to give up all custody claims.\u00a0 But the Washington state law will allow surrogacy for hire, with few restrictions, as Brandon Showalter reports.<\/a>\u00a0 He quotes pro-life activist Katie Faust, who testified against the bill:\u00a0 \u201cWhen I say that we have established a global marketplace for children, I am not exaggerating. That is exactly what this is.\u201d<\/div>\n
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As the bill stands, Faust explained, no limits are placed on how many children can be procured through surrogacy arrangements, no requirements exist saying that people intending to pay for surrogacy services must be residents of Washington state or American citizens, or even that the women must be inseminated in Washington. All it takes is one consultation that occurs on Washington soil and a contract can be legally enforced even if the individuals using the surrogate mother hail from nations where surrogacy is prohibited.<\/p>\n

Motions to amend the bill requiring all \u201cintended parents\u201d to be subject to the same screening procedures as adoptive parents and the creation of a state-run database to track those intended parents and limit the number of births were voted down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Currently, eight other states<\/a> also allow \u201ccompensated\u201d surrogacy:\u00a0California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, and Rhode Island.\u00a0 For countries that allow commercial surrogacy, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Does any of this count as exploitation of women?\u00a0 As human trafficking?\u00a0 As the commodification of human life?\u00a0 As the privileged exploiting the underprivileged?<\/p>\n

Apparently such seemingly liberal concerns do not apply in this case, as all of Washington state\u2019s supposedly liberal Democrats in the legislature voted for commercialized surrogacy, just as all of the Republicans opposed it.<\/p>\n

How does surrogacy fit with the doctrine of vocation?\u00a0 Is there a difference here between altruistic and commercial surrogacy?\u00a0 Does it make a difference vocationally if the mother is giving up her genetic child as opposed to one conceived artificially?<\/p>\n

And, setting aside the ethical issues for a moment, is $50,000 nearly enough to pay a woman to go through pregnancy and to give up her child?\u00a0 Presumably, as the supply of surrogates increases, the price will go down.\u00a0 But does this strike you as exploitive wages?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo of Drewitt-Barlow family [first gay men to legally have children via surrogacy in UK<\/a>] by Surrogacy-UK (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After getting married, the next step for most couples is having children.\u00a0\u00a0Now that we have same-sex marriage, there is the impulse for same-sex parenting.\u00a0 But natural law still holds for reproduction, so two married men who want to be parents must find a woman who will bear a child for them.\u00a0 Thus we are seeing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":32093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16,26,27,33,44,48],"tags":[6338,1954,2958,4500,6341],"class_list":["post-32045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-family","category-law","category-life-issues","category-nature","category-technology","category-vocation","tag-commercialized-surrogacy","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-surrogate-mothers","tag-vocation-of-motherhood","tag-washington-state-surrogacy-law"],"yoast_head":"\nSurrogacy for Money<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The demand for surrogate mothers is rising so much, partly due to gay marriages, that more states are legalizing surrogacy for money. 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