Surrogate Pregnancy and 1984
Surrogate pregnancy was talked about and questioned in the early 1970’s but was not put into practice until 1976. The first case documented actually comes from the bible. It was the story of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah talks about her experience with infertility. She then turns to Hagar, her handmaiden, and asks her if she would carry their child for them since she was unable to. Hagar was their maid so in a way it was a command, not exactly a favor or question.
The first actual recognized surrogate arrangement for a pregnancy was back in 1976. It was known by The Keane Brokers First Surrogacy Agreement but the woman that carried the child for the couple did not get any compensation. Keane created the infertility center and arranged all surrogate pregnancies
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Her children were made fun of, teased and had their own emotions to deal with from the surrogacy. Their family went downhill after this experience. Their “social life” was flipped upside down because of the way people looked at the mother for being a surrogate mother. She even wrote a book telling people not to be surrogate mothers or get involved in the process. She states that it is too much for a family to go through, or even one person to handle. Another complicated surrogate story in the past was in 1986 and is known by “The Baby M Case.” The surrogate mother, Mary Beth, gave birth to Melissa Stern, and decided she wanted to keep her as her own. Due to Mary’s decision there was a two year legal battle with the biological and intended mother and father, Betsy and Bill Stern. Because of their original deal, the Stern’s won custody of baby Melissa and Mary Beth was given visitation rights. This case stirred up many concerns in New Jersey because people began questioning how good surrogate pregnancies would work out. In 1988, surrogate mother, Patty Nowakowski gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The couple she carried the babies for only wanted a girl so they left Patty
Thomas begins her argument by asking the reader to imagine a situation in which a famous violinist will die unless he is connected to them in order to gain use of your kidneys. In this scenario, the Society of Music Lovers for this task has also kidnapped them against their will. Because after checking all the medical documents, they were the perfect match for the operation. While they were unconscious, the violinist's circulatory system was "plugged into them, so that their kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as their own". Now they have two choices, either unplug themselves from the violinist, which results in his death; or wait nine months until he is recovered and can be unplugged safely. Thomson likens the plight of the reader's well-being and the violinist to that of a child conceived during a rape and its mother.
In her essay “Abortion, Intimacy, and the Duty to Gestate,” Margaret Olivia Little examines whether it should be permissible for the state to force the intimacy of gestation on a woman against her consent. Little concludes that “mandating gestation against a woman’s consent is itself a harm - a liberty harm” (p. 303). She reaches this conclusion after examining the deficiencies in the current methods used to examine and evaluate the issues of abortion. Their focus on the definition of a “person” and the point in time when the fetus becomes a distinct person entitled to the benefits and protections of the law fails to capture “the subtleties and ambivalences that suffuse the issue” (p. 295). Public debate on the right to life and the right to choose has largely ignored the nature of the relationship between the mother and the fetus through the gestational period and a woman’s right to either accept or decline participation in this relationship.
The topic of my paper is abortion. In Judith Jarvis Thomson's paper, “A Defense of Abortion,” she presented a typical anti-abortion argument and tried to prove it false. I believe there is good reason to agree that the argument is sound and Thompson's criticisms of it are false.
The woman who conceives, carries and gives birth to the child is called the surrogate mother. There are two types of surrogacy: traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy involves the sperm from the intended father (also known as the sperm donor) and the egg of the surrogate mother. Therefore, in this case, the surrogate mother is the genetic mother of the child. The second type is gestational surrogacy. Gestational surrogacy involves the extraction of the egg from the intended mother, and the transfer of the embryo into the surrogate’s uterus. This means that the surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child. Within the two types of surrogacy, there are two types of surrogacy arrangements: altruistic (non-commercial) and commercial. Under the Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld), a commercial surrogacy arrangement is when a person receives payment, reward, or other material benefit or advantage for entering into the surrogacy arrange...
In the article 'A Defense of Abortion' Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that abortion is morally permissible even if the fetus is considered a person. In this paper I will give a fairly detailed description of Thomson main arguments for abortion. In particular I will take a close look at her famous 'violinist' argument. Following will be objections to the argumentative story focused on the reasoning that one person's right to life outweighs another person's right to autonomy. Then appropriate responses to these objections. Concluding the paper I will argue that Thomson's 'violinist' argument supporting the idea of a mother's right to autonomy outweighing a fetus' right to life does not make abortion permissible.
Is an egg chicken or an egg? How many of you had asked this question when you were little?
The History Of The Pro-Choice Movement. On January 22, 1973, the movement to legalize abortion achieved its greatest. victory with the Roe v Wade ruling. This paper will analyze the rise and continuation of this movement over the course of the past forty years.
I would have said that it was a generous and thoughtful act of kindness for a surrogate to be willing to help a couple bring a child into this world. I would have never thought deeply about some of the moral and ethical aspects of surrogacy, until now. I have been married for almost four years, and I believe in the unity of marriage and the idea of becoming one. After reading Cahill’s argument on surrogacy, and reflected on my own moral values, I immediately took a stance to agree with her. I believe that when it comes to a child, the best interest of the child should be a top priority. I am not a mother, but I am very passionate about children, and find their lives to be so precious. Parents should always have the child’s best interest in mind when making choices regarding their child’s life. A surrogate may be doing it as an act of kindness, and that may be her intention. However, I agree that surrogacy brings a dualistic element to the relationship. I know that as a married woman I would never hire a surrogate to bear my child, nor be a surrogate to carry someone else’s child. I want children, but I would never want to be treated as the means to an end, and I would not want my child to be considered a commodity. I strongly agree with Cahill in that a binding moral obligation does come with certain choices, even if we did not choose them in the first
This essay examines and critiques Judith Jarvis Thomson’s, A Defense of Abortion (1971). Thomson sets out to show that the foetus does not have a right to the mother’s body and that it would not be unjust to perform an abortion when the mother’s life is not threatened. For the sake of the argument, Thomson adopts the conservative view that the foetus is a person from the moment of conception. The conservative argument asserts that every person has a right to life. The foetus has a right to life.
The Pro Life Fetal Rights Movement Problems with format Pro-life rhetoric is reshaping history to make room for a new class of citizens. The members of this new identity group are called "fetuses," and their legal protection is crucial to the heritage of and future of America. Lauren Berlant, in her essay, "America, 'Fat,' the Fetus"; describes the pro-life motivation to present fetuses as a class of citizens, and thereby add "a new group of "persons" to "the people"" (Berlant, 98). To do so, pro-lifers exploit the current convergence of public and private spheres. In the intimate public sphere, citizens are defined not by a common civic duty, but instead, by a shared morality.
Abortion has long been an issue of debate in the United States. Lately, as abortion has become legal and more accepted in modern society women have begun to come forward and talk about their experiences having abortions before they were legal.
There are variables that could affect her choice. She could be poor, the child could have a birth defect, and so on. Giving her a right to decide whether she should abort the baby, it’s entirely her choice. What if the mother was raped or she got pregnant from incest? Would you traumatise this mother with the child of the rapist for 9 months, and would you allow an inbred child that will most likely have a disability and be put through literal hell?
Gestational surrogacy, especially when it involves commercial surrogates, challenges the status quo in the ethical theory of reproduction, because with this technology the process of producing a child can no longer remain a private matter. Now a public contract exists between two parties, the couple and the surrogate ...
Aside from including medical complications, there are psychological risks for the surrogate, future psychological risks of the child, lack of trust between surrogate and intended parents, etc. Women may have psychological reactions when being surrogate mothers that include depression when surrendering the child, grief, and even refusal to release the child. This can be seen in the iconic Baby M case. In the Baby M case, a traditional surrogacy was arranged between the Sterns and Mary Beth Whitehead. All went smoothly until the last few months of the pregnancy, when Whitehead began acting on her own. After bearing the child, she had a very difficult time surrendering the baby, and returned the next day saying she was suicidal because of it. (Baby M and Mary Beth Whitehead. Surrogate Pregnancy in Court) She threatened to kill herself and the baby if she didn’t get to keep her. Whitehead had kept the baby for months after childbirth while the trial was taking place. There was an ongoing struggle between Whitehead and Mr. Stern, the two biological parents each wanting custody, and they developed a sort of odd relationship, acting as though they are a couple. In the testimony, Whitehead and Stern discuss the fate of “their” baby, completely disregarding Mrs. Stern, who was the intended mother. (Surrogacy: Baby M) The issue with traditional surrogacy is that the intended mother has no biological nor physical tie with the child. It can cause an identity issue for the child and problems in the future for the parents, saying that only one of the intended parents is actually biologically related to the child. The technological solution to that problem is gestational surrogacy, but that has issues of its own. Gestational surrogacy involves a surrogate implanted with the fertilized egg(s) of the intended parents through IVF. IVF has its own list of ethical issues and risks, but for the sake of simplicity, IVF involves some medical risks.
Surrogacy is becoming extremely popular as a way for people to build their families and women to have a source of income. Many people have various reasons for their opposition to it whether it be by comparing it to prostitution or disagreeing with how military wives take advantage of the Tricare insurance. Lorraine Ali states in her article “The Curious Lives of Surrogates” that one of the more popular reasons to oppose surrogacy is that it contradicts, “what we’ve always thought of as an unbreakable bond between mother and child.” However, a woman’s inability to conceive her own children does not determine the absence of a mother to child bond.