The Injustices of the Surrogacy Industry

The Injustices of the Surrogacy Industry | Sister Renée Mirkes | CWR



Catholic teaching on surrogacy is receiving reinforcement from current research.


Mothers have long believed,
cultures have long taught, and research has repeatedly confirmed that an
emotional network links pregnant moms to their babies. If mom is happy, the preborn
baby is content. When mom is anxious, the prenate shows signs of stress. What’s
more, post-birth, this bio-emotional nexus—the gestational link—continues to yoke
mothers to their offspring throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

It’s important, then, to
investigate what happens when an enterprise like surrogacy sunders the
gestational link. For the first time, a 2013 study suggests surrogate children experience
greater adjustment difficulties and levels of stress than same-aged children
born by gamete donation. [1] In other words, severing the gestational link can be even more devastating for
surrogate children than splitting the genetic link can be for children produced
by donor egg and/or sperm.

This report turns to Christian
anthropology and prenatal research to connect the dots of the maladaptation of the
surrogate child to the troubling exploitation that impacts all surrogacy
stakeholders. Predictably, the injustices—the flotsam and jetsam of the
surrogacy industry—don’t just harm the child,[2] they ripple out over the surrogate mother, the commissioning parents, and all
of society.

The surrogacy explosion

Some women cannot get
pregnant. They’re either born without a uterus, or have a non-functioning
uterus, or have been repeatedly unsuccessful at gestating an in-vitro-fertilized
(IVF) baby. Many of these sterile women, invoking the principle of patient
autonomy, deem a contractual agreement with a surrogate carrier as their only alternative,
other than adoption.[3]

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