The Market Of Maternal Love? - A World Of Surrogacy And Exploitation

“Get ready to go to the hospital, Ngoc.”  This was my final message from my mom before I realized with shock that my mother, LyLy, had to endure the agony of losing her child twice in her life. My heart did indeed have a knot, my blood vessels seemed to have been severed and had ceased to function as I thought of the image of my mother after she lost her children. It led me to wonder, "How do I exist?” My mother’s experience proved to me the impact fertility troubles can have on women. How many individuals can truly sympathize with the despair and pain experienced by women who are having reproductive issues? Surrogacy is a solution for these women - but, as many fear, will the growth of surrogacy only mark a proliferation of a tragic tendency in the exploitation of women 42 years after I was born in 2008?

This piece recognizes the benefits that surrogacy offers in the present day for women, families and children. However, I contend that regardless of these merits, the world this question describes in 2050 is one of the industrialization of maternal love. We can, and should, acknowledge the benefits of surrogacy while seeking to prevent this world emerging. 

Surrogacy in the present day addresses various fertility issues of women, gives a secure life to children in these families, and especially yields happiness to all couples. We have a duty to assist the 39% of women under 35 who have reproductive difficulties  (OASH, 2021) as part of their human right to be treated fairly. Surrogacy is how we can help these women. When the children are born carrying their genes, rather than having to adopt children who they share no biological connection with, surrogacy helps women live the life that they desire and, therefore, allows them more choice and freedom. Furthermore, for many the pinnacle and most reputable status a woman may achieve in life is in parenting. Sharing in God's creative power by giving birth to a human being is a gift that only a mother can properly appreciate. 

Moreover, a Cambridge University study (“Children of Surrogate Mothers”, 2017) found that 86% of surrogates' own children were happy with their mọther’s participation in surrogacy, with a majority of children born through surrogacy having a relationship with both their legal and surrogate mothers. Mitchell Green, who is an English surrogate, has stated “You never think the baby is yours” in heradvocacy for helping couples with fertility issues (The Economist, 2015). Surrogacy brings these children into existence and, handled well, does not entail the splitting up of families.

Furthermore, surrogacy not only supports these families in their troubles conceiving but also protects such couples from breaking up. According to Smart Marriages, in the United States, 66% of couples in 2010 who divorced were childless (EmaxHealth, 2010). The relationship between the absence of children and loneliness in marriages is remarkably significant, a finding which could be explicated by the fact that children are a key motivator to keep families more solid. Divorce is commonly effortless if families do not have children, both legally and monetarily though perhaps not always emotionally. This is because there are no custody disputes or family courts to worry about; all that must be taken into account is who receives what properties and the division of the assets. An empirical study from Wilkinson & Finkbeiner (“Divorce Statistic”, 2022) found that the divorce rate for childfree couples is as much as 40% higher than for those with children. Surrogacy helps these couples to become more sustainable and healthy, helping everyone involved and preventing divorce. These various positives prove that the right to surrogacy should indeed be protected.

However, if 50% of births in the developed world occurred through surrogacy, we must ask whether surrogates would become economic tools commercially and even whether a ‘trade market’ in maternal love would emerge. On this scale, surrogates in the developing world would be exploited brutally, ruthlessly and furiously - as underprivileged and illiterate women attempted to attain ten years worth of their normal salary in a single pregnancy. Remarkably, in 2015, a European Parliament report itself described surrogacy as being “reproductive exploitation” that “undermines the human dignity” of women (“Annual Report on Human Rights”, 2015).

In this new world, we will see greater economic, emotional and physical exploitation of women in the developing world. On economic exploitation, the more supply we have of a service the lower its price will become. Thus, when the sheer number of surrogates increases to this extent the amount each surrogate can earn from a pregnancy is likely to dwindle significantly, making the industry even more exploitative. 

Moreover, the risk of emotional difficulties such as stress and frustration is inevitable because of the hormonal changes during childbearing. A research paper from the National Library of Medicine has indicated that the prevalence of perceived stress amongst pregnant women was 11.6% (NIH, PMC, 2019) while the emotionally destructive surrogacy will place even greater stress on surrogate candidates compared to normal pregnancies when it operates on this industrial scale (Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 2014). A Kashan University of Medical Sciences official publication featured an interview with a 31-year-old surrogate who stated that “I had morning sickness during the entire nine months in my surrogacy. I think I will have to spend all the money earned to treat my problems.” (“The Experience of Surrogate Mothers'', 2020). To cement this point, let’s examine how surrogates' physical health would deteriorate in this world if a study of German women showed that 41% of them suffered reduced physical well-being during pregnancy. (EJNC, 2021). Do we truly want to live in such a world?

Furthermore, in the 27 years until 2050, great cultural and legal problems would emerge as the number of pregnancies occurring through surrogacy rose from 0.2% (NLM, 2022) to 50%. This rise will result in conflict between cultures, as women receive sperm from single men through in vitro fertilization, or in order to carry out surrogacy for recipients such as LGBT couples leading to great legal and cultural conflicts in several nations. Surrogacy in small and controlled numbers to support couples experiencing challenges having children is necessary and fantastic, but due to the effect on society and religion if surrogacy increased so dramatically there would be a tremendous backlash. 

From my family’s history, I am well aware of the value of reproductive technology for helping women. It is undeniable that surrogates enable women with reproductive difficulties to become mothers, while helping society avoid divorce and create families. However, in a world in which 50% of pregnancies occur through surrogacy, would pregnancy continue to retain its powerful link to maternal love or would it simply become a business to abuse women? We should strive to prevent this world from emerging since this society would be worse for women, children and families.