Surrogacy

[poliphilo]

A childless friend of mine is considering surrogacy. I know what I feel- which is "yeuch"; I'm less sure what I think.  To help me make up my mind my friend sent me this article from The New York Times.  The author has had two kids with two different surrogates, is awfully pleased with the supremely ethical choices she has made- and seems to believe- as rich people so often do- that the people she is paying are smiling at her because they love her. She also descends, towards the end, into nauseating babytalk. The article hasn't changed my feelings. If anything it has hardened them- but I don't like finding myself on the same side as the Pope.  Are my objections atavistic and patriarchal or am I right to trust my gut? 

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I believe that one is almost NEVER right to trust one's gut on moral issues. One's gut is often a good way to START thinking about things, but it's a terrible place to FINISH thinking about it.

"yeuch" isn't a moral judgement. You're squicked by it. That's fine; you can be squcked by things. And being squicked by something is a perfectly good reason to not do it yourself.

But the fact that something squicks you has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is an ethical action or not.

Are there ethical issues surrounding surrogacy? Absolutely. For instance, if the surrogate, after giving birth, decides that she wants to keep the child, does she have an ethical claim to it?

That's certainly a significant ethical issue to consider -- but it doesn't reflect on the question of whether surrogacy itself is ethical and/or moral.

If something is unethical, you should be able to find a specific ethical principle that it violates. If something is immoral, you should be able to find at least a general moral principle that it violates.

If you can do neither, then you're just being squicked by the concept and you should get over it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I agree.

The ethical consideration has to do with the use of human beings and their bodies as mere commodities. The author of the article- to do her justice- has negotiated all that with considerable sensitivity. If everyone is a free agent and no-one is being exploited the ethical objections largely disappear.