Commodification and Exploitation of Surrogacy

A discussion about surrogacy could result in many different arguments, but one of the most important would be that which deals with the ethical and moral relevance of surrogacy as it relates to both the surrogate and the contracting parents. In terms of ethical and moral relevance, we might consider whether the parties involved are being denied any negative rights and furthermore, how that could produce an unwanted outcome, for example commodification or exploitation. In what follows I will argue that full gestational surrogacy commodifies and exploits women and children; however, I question the negative connotation of the word “exploit” when the surrogate is fully educated about the process. Although surrogacy should be legally permissible, I argue that adoption should be the primary means of "having" a child.

Commodification:

Surrogacy commodifies women and children by selling that which is “market-inalienable,” meaning something that should not be sold, but even more broadly it takes humans and treats them as things rather than thinking and reasoning beings (p.174). Radin identifies non-fungible objects as alienable or central to who the person is, fungible items, however, are those that can be replaced by money (p. 176). I take the above argument to show that regardless of whether the surrogate or contracting parents think of this exchange as commodification or not, it is beyond doubt turning both the surrogate and future child into a commodity.

Thinking of women and children/fetuses in terms of market rhetoric feels intrinsically wrong and results in devaluation of life and morals. For example, prostitution commodifies women and even children by selling their bodies—something that is extremely personal to them. If we accept ...

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... a service than is deserved, it allows many families, especially those abroad, to have the means to purchase vital resources and contracting parents to have a child genetically related to them. It follows then, that non-commodified surrogacy or adoption is preferable, but in light of current practices near impossible to implement completely; however, I would like to encourage those considering adoption or surrogacy to completely educate themselves about the process and ensure that they do not violate their morals and the morals of others.

Works Cited

"Intercountry Adoption." Statistics. Bureau of Counsular Affairs, US Department of State, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Radin, Margaret J. "Market-Inalienability." Https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/c20c3a17-f93d-4b50-966d-10de7065dae7/phil3780.radin.market-inalienability.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.