Some of the ethical pitfalls of surrogacy have been revealed in a RTE
documentary broadcast this week called  “Her
body, our babies”.

It examined the story of an Irish couple who paid a woman in India to carry a
baby for them. The
woman became pregnant with three babies and one was aborted in a so-called ‘pregnancy
reduction’ under instructions from the Indian clinic charged with overseeing
the health of the woman.

The two surviving children were eventually
brought back to Ireland by the couple but are “stateless” because they have
neither Indian nor Irish citizenship. An Indian law professor interviewed on
the documentary described the surrogacy industry there as a “baby farm”.

Most European countries ban surrogacy
outright because of the ethical issues involved.

The
couple chose donor eggs from a fertility clinic which were fertilised by the
male partner’s sperm and then implanted in the surrogate mother’s womb. Six
embryos were created in total, three were implanted while the other three were
frozen.

Due to the Indian clinic’s guidelines, one of the foetuses was
subsequently aborted at 12 weeks in order to protect the health of the
surrogate mother. The commissioning couple were aware that this “pregnancy
reduction” would take place in the event that all three embryos implanted
successfully.

The couple in question both have children
from previous relationships and are both in their 50s. They paid the surrogate
mother €4,400 for the
pregnancy, during which
the surrogate had to stay resident at the Indian “surrogacy house”.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reported last weekend on a
story concerning irregular inter-country adoptions involving Irish citizens.
Irish adoption officials were warned in 2012 that a rogue Mexican solicitor
seemed to be commissioning local women to have babies so they could be adopted
by Irish couples. The practice is illegal under Mexican and international law.

The officals learned of these irregularities after 11 Irish couples were
arrested in Mexico and forced to give back children. The correspondance has
come to light in the course of a High Court case taken by an Irish couple who
want the Adoption Authority of Ireland to recognise their adoption of a Mexican
girl.

In a further related story, The Irish Times
reported that a genetic father of two children born to a foreign surrogate
mother was granted guardianship and sole custody rights over them (Jan 17, 2014). Donor eggs were
again involved. The genetic
father is sharing parental responsibilites with his partner.