Assignment 4: "International Surrogacy is Dangerous and Unfair" — Ong Shi Qing (9) and Renise Ngo Shu Ning (11) 4B

Summary:

There is ruthless exploitation, and women are pressured, deceived and cheated into surrogacy by others who make the real money. Surrogates are seen purely as a commodity. There are repeated pregnancies, abortion, complications from fertility drug use, non-payment, lack of legal advice to surrogate mothers. Foreign parents are in the illusion that this is somehow an altruistic service. The bodies of poor women and men are used for the benefit of the rich, preventing individuals from climbing out of the quagmire of poverty and disadvantage. Governments in poor countries adopt unacceptable laws in the hope of developing lucrative niche markets.

Reader's Response:

We feel that all people should be given the opportunity to have children only when all parties involved benefit from it. This includes three parties - the parents, the surrogate mother, and the children born from the surrogacy. Naturally whenever there is a successful surrogacy the parents paying for the birth will benefit from it. They will get the children that they want. However it is the children and the surrogate mother who might not benefit from it, and even be harmed in the process. The children born might be abandoned or the embryo aborted if they are found to have diseases or deformities, as was the suspected case mentioned in the article. The surrogate mother might also have to take care of the unwanted child if the parents do not want it anymore, because the reasoning is that she gave birth to them, so she should keep them. I feel that everybody has the right to want children and have them through legitimate means, but all parties need to considered when doing so.