Surrogate Motherhood

Abstract

(SCOPE NOTE 6, "Surrogate Motherhood: Ethical and Legal Issues,” written in August 1984 has been revised and updated, since much new material is available. The highly publicized Baby M case renewed public interest in such reproductive arrangements, and both popular and academic writing on the ethical and legal issues ensued.) Among the many applications of the new reproductive technologies (including artificial insemination by donor—AID, in vitro fertilization—IVF, embryo transfer, and embryo freezing) surrogate motherhood has such far-reaching consequences that it raises a multitude of ethical and legal questions. It has been hotly debated in courts and legislatures, and has merited consideration by Commissions, Inquiries, Working Parties and professional societies in Australia, Great Britain, France, Canada, and many other countries, as well as in the United States (see citations 1-14). What distinguishes surrogacy from other reproductive technologies is not the technology itself but the circumstances of its application—an arrangement whereby one woman bears a child for another, with the intent of relinquishing the infant at birth.