Press release from The Iona Institute
The case of a Thai surrogate mother that has made headlines all over the world highlights the unavoidable ethical pitfalls of surrogacy, The Iona Institute has said today.
The case involves a Thai woman who gave birth to twins on behalf of an Australian couple. One of the babies, Gammy, has Down Syndrome and the commissioning couple are raising his healthier twin sister but not Gammy who has been left with the birth mother.
Commenting on the case, Breda O’Brien of The Iona Institute said: “The case perfectly illustrates why surrogacy is so morally problematic. Quite apart from the Australian couple apparently abandoning a baby that is genetically theirs it highlights several other problems.
“One is the commercialisation of children, and even when a surrogate is not paid, children can still easily come to be seen as a product.
“A second problem is that surrogacy contracts, whether commercial or not, are very hard to enforce when it means forcing people to take responsibility for the children they commissioned.”
“A third is that it is almost invariably relatively well off Western couples who rent the wombs of poor women in the developing world in order to meet their desire for a child. The potential for exploitation is huge.
“A fourth is that the surrogate mother, who is the birth mother, is required to overcome her natural desire to bond with the child in her womb.
“A fifth problem is that the surrogate mother is often impregnated with several embryos in the hope that at least one will develop. But sometimes two or three or more do so and then the mother is encouraged to have an abortion as a recent Irish documentary highlighted.
“Finally, surrogacy splits motherhood into the birth mother and the genetic mother. Tellingly, the Thai surrogate wants Gammy’s twin sister back because she says that child is hers as she gave birth to her. However, the Australian mother also has a claim because she is the genetic mother. So who is the mother? In a way both are. But this confusion cannot even arise if we prohibit surrogacy as many other countries have done.”
ENDS