Over the years, surrogate motherhood has become an elevated trend around the globe, but the practice remains controversial. This report reviews surrogacy on the basis of limited data available for analysis whether it is a good idea or not keeping in view the benefits and the adversities associated with the phenomenon. The term 'surrogate' is derived from the Latin word 'subrogate' (to replace) and implies a woman who is pregnant and gives birth to a child for some other person or couple, unable to reproduce themselves, commonly referred to as the 'intended'.
The surrogacy may be commercial (surrogate getting monetary rewards) or altruistic (surrogate not earning any benefit except healthcare repayment and other pregnancy costs).
Surrogacy helps making it possible for individual or couples to have their biological offspring(s) unlike adoption, which can take years to adopt a single child and give the 'moral transparency' right of biological origin. Despite the advantages of surrogacy, there is a list of significant negativities associated with the phenomenon leading to deep offenses to a person who is inspired to help change life and offer this gift to others either through commercial or altruistic surrogacy, indiscriminately.
Methodology
The approach followed for the study was exploratory analysis by questionnaires, journal articles, government reports and web-documents. The tool includes the google forms that was used to create an organized opinion poll of 60 % closed and 40% open end queries. Then 15 separate individuals which included family, friends and class-mates were invited via email to fill out the forms and vote their view on surrogacy by using the send option in google form..As they filled the questionnaire and press the submit button the response was automatically recorded.Thus the collected responses were then used as primary data. The compilation and evaluation of both primary and secondary information helped to draw results.
Result and Findings
From above illustration, 53.3 percent of people surveyed think it is an immoral act while 40 percent see it as a question of women's exploitation for money without their consent. In comparison, only 6.7% of individuals are still in favor of surrogacy.
Above responses to surrogacy, show that 53.3% of casted opinions are in favor inter-country surrogacy.46.7% think that both of them can be adopted. As seen above, 100% of the polled opinions favored the need of strict laws and international convention to avoid any breach of agreement, fraud or offensive case.
Discussion
Questions that typically occur when taking into account people's ideas for surrogacy include: What general public think about surrogacy and to whom they will suggest it? For many people, it has proven to be a blessing and a medical marvel. The fact cannot be ignored that gestational surrogacy brings encouragement to persons and spouses who would otherwise not be able to create a family but they want to be biological linked with the baby. Hollywood star Kanye and his wife Kim Kardashian West, for example, employed a surrogate to bear their third child and tried it again for baby No. 4, since giving birth again is not a choice for Kardashian West, who suffered from placenta accreta both during her pregnancy with son and daughter (Juneau, 2019).
Is there a need for rigorous regulation to stop aggressive incidents, fraud and breach of contract in the case of surrogacy? Baby Manji’s, born in India in 2008, conception was the outcome of a commercial pregnancy arrangement between her Indian surrogate and her Japanese family. When Manji was raised, her parents divorced and her commissioning mother refused to accept her. A child's passport can only be released under Indian law in accordance with the family. Because Manji would not be accepted by her Japanese or Indian parents, her nationality was not granted until her grandmother claimed her (Darnovsky, Biopolitical Times, 2009). The observation highlights the need to remove ambiguities by strict laws.
As far as inter-country surrogacy preference over international surrogacy is concerned, in most countries inter-country surrogacy is allowed. For instance, Australian laws and policies are formulated on the premise that only close friends and family can serve as surrogates. This legislative framework for surrogacy is formulated to cause avoidable financial distress and psychological harm to hundreds of Australians every year. (Australia, June 2018)
Conclusion and Recommendations
Concluding the discussion, though procreative independence, sovereignty considerations and privacy all support surrogacy, yet unfair inducements relative to benefits, women's commodification, childcare problems, and citizenship for children born in global surrogacy arrangements are reasons against it have made surrogacy difficult and costly. Furthermore, international conventions preventing any influence on countries which forbid amendment of their rules, as well as other legislative and advocacy efforts should be made to protect the rights and well-being of all parties: children, women working as surrogates in an effort to address the fact that Surrogacy causes some tension, especially with regard to emotional commitment, motivations for surrogates, commissioning couples and marriage-related issues, the problem of the surrogate surrendering the baby to the commissioning couple and the subsequent development of the infant, and what the children are taught about their origin (R.J.Edelmann, 2010). The primary ethical concerns raised throughout the surrogacy system are about exploitation and commodification. In surrogacy, for the surrogate mother, alienated labor leading to actual reproductive work may be emotionally (Kluwer, 2018) and physically damaging (Perez, 2018).