Altruistic surrogacy: the necessary objectification of surrogate mothers
- Mr M M Tieu, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, 1E/336 Marion Road, North Plympton, South Australia 5037; matthewtieu{at}bioethics.org.au
- Received 3 February 2008
- Revised 20 August 2008
- Accepted 7 October 2008
Abstract
One of the major concerns about surrogacy is the potential harm that may be inflicted upon the surrogate mother and the child after relinquishment. Even if one were to take the liberal view that surrogacy should be presumptively allowed on the basis of autonomy and/or compassion, evidence of harm must be taken seriously. In this paper I review the evidence from psychological studies on the effect that relinquishing a child has on the surrogate mother and while it appears that many surrogates are able to cope with relinquishment, I argue that there are good reasons, grounded in empirical evidence, to support the view that the subsequent management of the relinquishment necessarily objectifies the surrogate mother.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None.
