Over at The Public Discourse, here’s a really interesting piece by Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics in America on surrogacy in the US, and on some of the legal battles now taking place in various states.
With Alan Shatter’s Children and Family Relationships Bill on the horizon, this topic is one we ought to be hearing a lot more about in the coming months because, if passed, the Bill will permit surrogacy – unlike the situation in other European countries such as Germany.
Two things in particular struck me about Lahl’s article:
1. The battle lines not always being as clearly drawn as you might think. Lahl gives an example of a Kansas bill attempting to ban surrogacy, which was defeated partially due to the pro-surrogacy side using explicitly religious arguments, like that the bill would have ‘criminalised the birth of Jesus.’ (A quick retort: Mary kept the baby, surrogacy involves giving the baby away!) At the same time, Lahl says people born as a result of surrogacy rarely get invited to legislative hearings or consulations.
2. The extent to which many seem to think opposition to surrogacy is about anti-gay prejudice. As Lahl puts it “I’m against third-party reproduction. Period. Full stop. Gay or straight, married, single, or divorced. The legislative battle on this front is just heating up, and the most unlikely of coalitions will need to begin working together to counteract the seemingly insatiable demand for a baby, at any cost.”
