Running head: Surrogacy Controversy
Surrogacy Controversy
M.E.W.
Westwood College
Abstract
Surrogacy is the act of one woman carrying a child that belongs to someone else. There are two types of surrogates, Gestational and Traditional. Since surrogacy requires a contract both parties agree to, most would think that it should be black and white, contracts are legal and binding. However what makes a contract legal and binding are the laws to support the contract. There are no laws to support a surrogacy contract here is where the child custody controversy begins.
What defines a mother, the carrying of the fetus or the donation of the egg?
Surrogacy is a moral dilemma that has risen out of the advance of medical technology.
Surrogacy Controversy
Most women who become surrogate mothers are motivated to “give the gift of life," to parents who could not otherwise have a child.
Surrogacy involves the act of one woman carrying a child for another. There are other terms or variations for different types of surrogacy. Generally, there are two types: “gestational” (the surrogate has no biological relationship to the child and is only acting as the “host womb”) and “traditional” (the surrogate’s own egg/ovum is being utilized to create the child, thus introducing a direct biological relationship with the woman carrying the baby).
With “commercial surrogacy,” the surrogate mother is introduced to the intended parents through a third party: an agency, attorney, medical office, etc. The surrogate does not know the couple or individual and is most likely to be compensated for her participation in the surrogacy process.
In an “independent surrogacy” arrangement, the specific contractual terms and obligations are made directly between the intended parents and the surrogate without the involvement of a third-party representative. In many of these cases, the people find each other on surrogacy websites or through other means of advertisement.
In a “known...