Can transnational surrogacy ever be ethical

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Criminology

Document 1

Through permutation of push and pull dynamics, this prospect of gestation surrogacy has led to the dramatic upsurge of transnational surrogacy. But what is transnational surrogacy and is ethical? Surrogacy is the process by which a woman (surrogate mother) becomes expectant and bears a child so as to give to couples who cannot bear children on their own. Transnational surrogacy is has made couples in need of children to go around the world seeking to hire women from other countries to be their surrogates. There are various countries that have legalized surrogacy they include India, California some states in the U. S and even Greece among others (Deonandan, 2012). The main aim of the bill was to curb commercial and unethical practices and also prevent manipulation of poor women who are used as substitute mothers.

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The bill, however, has provided narrow options for couples in need of children but has shut out the opportunity of earning for surrogate mothers. The bill also explains that only married couples are eligible to opt for surrogacy. It excludes gays, single parents, and live-in couples. For the married couple to fully qualify that they are eligible, one of them must certify that he/she is not fit to reproduce naturally because of medical reasons. e. their first child from their previous birth, they end up delivering too many children. Surrogacy in Greece In Greece, surrogacy is also legal but contrary to India, it is purely altruistic surrogacy. It was legalized in 2002 and is regulated by the Greek Civil Code and Law.

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By definition, altruistic surrogacy is an agreement between the surrogate and intended parent where the surrogate does not receive financial compensation but they receive rewards for the pregnancy such as medical expenses, transportations costs, and maternity clothing among other expenses (Papaligoura & Bellali, 2015). " This is according to the article 1464 Majority of people consider regulation of commercial surrogacy as inefficient, unjust, and ineffective despite the academic discussions published in Greek laws and legal procedures required to explain surrogacy, violation of altruistic law has not been discussed keenly. For instance, Greek lawyers are mostly interested in the consistency of the doctrine but are indifferent when it comes to matters concerning the law. In a case conducted by Khader (2013) he found out that in Greece there are many cases concerning surrogacy but to avoid hassles, restrictions, and expenses when following a court procedure, many of them are taken illegally.

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Surrogacy is changing from altruistic to commercial just to get the financial benefits involved. This situation has led advertisements of commercial surrogacy services all over the internet despite the prohibition which is slowly encouraging transnational surrogacy Why transnational surrogacy will never be ethical? On the ethical basis, there are diverse standpoints on surrogacy, gestational or genetic, commercial or altruistic. Also, surrogacy is viewed as a form of an alienated labor. This could be explained by the principle of Hegel's philosophy (Osborne, 2013) of alienated labor. Some people argue that someone may work but may not emotionally be involved to the ‘product' of their work or the process itself. The difference as far as surrogacy is involved, is that it is physical reproductive labor.

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It is believed that reproduction is a private sphere and therefore requires respect as well as an emotional attachment. He categorizes the issues in three aspects which are alienation, exploitation, and commodification (Nelson, 2013). Surrogacy is very expensive and therefore it is deemed to be for the rich and wealthy. Therefore the women who choose to be surrogates are also deemed to be of low income which pushes them to surrogation for money purposes. Due to this trend, there has been an increase by people from developed countries to seek these services from developing countries. This is very bad and unethical because now the wealthy people are exploiting those who are financially incapacitated. , Akoto, S. , & Vizir, M.  An overview of ethical issues involved in surrogacy (Doctoral dissertation, ХНМУ).

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