Surrogate Mothers: Superheroines or Money-Makers? (Essay Sample)

"Surrogate mothers: superheroines or money-makers?"
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Surrogate mothers: superheroines or money-makers?
Surrogacy offers women who wish to become mothers but are unable to carry a pregnancy to full term an opportunity to fulfill their wish. It is also being increasingly used for men who also wish to raise a biologically related child (Aznar & Martinez Peris, 2019). It is a process that involves lawyers, doctors, donors, and altruistic and commercial surrogate mothers. Laws across different countries guiding commercial surrogacy vary and oftentimes are weak and offer inadequate protection to commissioning parents, surrogates, and the resulting children. Despite the benefits of gestational surrogacy to the commissioning parents, it is largely structured and regarded as a commercial transaction and the majority of surrogate mothers are in it for the money.
International Commercial Surrogacy (ICS) makes it possible for commissioning parents in one country to hire a surrogate in another country in a legally enforceable transaction in exchange for the desired child. The altruistic motivation for surrogate mothers in South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe experiencing poverty and chronic financial distress is nonexistent. Research indicates that Indian women cited the need for providing a source of income as the motivating factor for accepting surrogacy (Fronek, 2018). Often these women may be inspired by media stories of other surrogate mothers and opt to try it out on the promise of getting paid. There are paid agents involved in connecting aspiring surrogate mothers to the commissioning parents. Consequently, this transaction sees the surrogate mother not experience agency