Is Choosing Surrogacy a Blessing or Is it Abuse? Laurie Stilwell - Guardian Liberty Voice
go to original August 7, 2014

Surrogacy is where a woman agrees to be implanted with an embryo and bear a child on behalf of another couple. Most countries only allow what is called altruistic surrogacy, in which the woman carrying the child receives payment only for her expenses. Only a few countries allow paid surrogacy. The practice is illegal in China, but the black market “produces” well over 10,000 babies every year. In Thailand, India, Ukraine and Mexico the practice is widespread. In Thailand, it has become a lucrative multi-million dollar business, although now Thai authorities have begun to crackdown.

In gestational surrogacy, the embryo is created in the lab, sometimes using eggs and sperm from the intended parents, or from donors, and then transferred to a surrogate. Often surrogacy involves twin or triplet pregnancies with the possibility of selective reduction. Most contracts stipulate an abortion for serious defects. This conflicts with many pro-life views.

There are many scams involving surrogacy. The most common problem is leaving the surrogate mother with unpaid medical bills. Commonly it is believed that the surrogate mom would try to back out of the proposition, but statistics show it is usually the intended parents who renege on the contract.

International would-be parents often pay in excess of $150,000. Of these dollars only $20,000 to $30,000 goes to the surrogate mother. The remainder goes to testing, lawyers, fertility clinics, egg donors, or the surrogacy agency. Often couples will pay tens of thousands of dollars only to hear the agency has gone bankrupt or find there never was an agency.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban had Faith Margaret, the biological daughter of both Urban and Kidman, through a gestational carrier. Elton John and his partner of 17 years, David Furnish, obtained their son Zachary through an agency. They are choosing surrogacy again and are expecting twins.

Read the rest at Guardian Liberty Voice

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!