Surrogate Mothering Laura M. Purdy Summary

New means of reproducing children have the tendency to attract strong opposition, and this certainly true of surrogate mothering. A surrogate mother is woman who takes on the responsibility of pregnancy for another woman. The surrogate mother is, then, inseminated using a man’s sperm. At the end of the pregnancy, the surrogate mother gives the infant to the woman who requested her services. Some claim this practice is immoral. They claim that the practice of surrogate mothering breaks down the traditional family. They also claim the practice exploits women and is, thus, anti-feminist. Meanwhile, they also argue that if money is being transferred to the biological mother, then this practice is essentially baby selling, and they conclude that

Purdy. In “Surrogate Mothering: Exploitation or Empowerment,” she argues that surrogate mothering is not only moral but also beneficial. As far as benefits are concerned, she claims that it helps infertile couples and lowers the net health risks for certain pregnancies (Purdy 2). Purdy argues against the idea that it wrong for a woman to take on the risks and burdens of pregnancy for another person. In fact, she claims there are many jobs where women take on possibly very high risks and burdens (Purdy 3). She also argues people are wrong to suggest that the separation of reproduction and sex is somehow inherently wrong. In response to that issue, she claims there are other analogous separations which benefit women (Purdy 3). As far as baby-selling is concerned, she argues that surrogate mothering is not, in fact, baby-selling (Purdy 6). Throughout the entirety of the paper, Purdy holds that surrogate mothering is beneficial to women and society. Purdy’s conclusions are correct; however, she requires additional arguments to make her point. Also, notably, she leaves out certain objections, especially, with respect to adoption, which need to be pointed out. Surrogate mothering is not inherently immoral or exploitation, and in some cases, preferable to