The birth of Ana Obregón’s daughter by surrogacy in Miami has reopened the ethical debate on obtaining babies through this assisted reproductive technique. Beyond the also questionable age of the Spanish celebrity (68 years), the so-called surrogates continue to spark intense controversy over what is hidden behind the desire of a person or couple to have a child when nature turns its back on them .
Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction characterized by the fact that the woman carrying the baby will not be the mother of the baby, but that of another person or couple. This technique, complex from an ethical and emotional point of view, requires a woman who, by means of a contractual agreement (usually well paid), agrees to carry the baby of a third party and, after pregnancy, she renounces the right to maternity.
Whenever possible, the eggs and sperm are provided by the intended parents, so that the future child is biologically theirs. If it is not possible for the mother to provide the genetic material, a donor is usually used. The initial idea is that the pregnant woman only contributes the uterus to maintain the pregnancy and give birth to the future baby, but this is not always the case. After delivery, the baby is delivered to the intended parents.
Contracts require rights and obligations of each of the parties, especially the surrogate mother. And they make it clear that the object of the contract is that the biological parents “order” a baby and the surrogate mother “commits to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth to the baby with the help of assisted reproductive techniques.” .
Its defenders speak of the right to be parents, of the altruism of the pregnant woman and of the woman’s freedom to decide what she does with her body; while its detractors (among them, the state network against surrogates) criticize the exploitation of women, used as an incubator, for the purchase of a child, taking advantage on many occasions of the precariousness of the mother, the depravity of capitalism and the degradation of values ??and any ethics. They consider that being parents is not a right and that there are other methods to be parents such as adoption or other methods of assisted reproduction.
In Spain, surrogacy is an illegal practice by Law 14/2006 and, for this reason, people who want to be parents through this technique have to travel to a foreign country, such as Israel or India (before the war they also did it to Russia or Ukraine) or some North American states like Florida, as in the case of Obregón. In other countries such as New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, it is allowed as long as it does not entail an economic consideration.
Although there are still illegal cases of surrogacy in Spain, the reform of the abortion law approved by the Congress of Deputies last February reinforces the illegality of what is also called surrogacy by prohibiting advertising by brokerage.
In its article 32, it makes it clear that the administrations will promote the elimination of “any type of advertising whose purpose is the commodification of reproductive health by third parties, for violating the dignity of women.” And surrogate motherhood, surrogate pregnancy or surrogacy, as the practice that “occurs when a woman offers to gestate a child to, once born, deliver it to the person or persons who have given it to her, is usually known.” in charge and that they are going to assume their paternity/maternity”, as defended by the Bioethics Committee of Spain, which it categorically rejects because “any gestation contract by substitution involves exploitation of the woman and damage to the best interests of the minor”.
A priori, altruistic surrogacy would seem to pose fewer problems than its paid alternative. It would be in the presence of an act of liberality whose only reward is to help others to have children, assuming high actual and potential costs. However, that decision tends to be branded as reprehensible if it becomes a monetary transaction. This would mean treating women as instruments capable of being exploited and children as objects for sale. This thesis brings together in a unique coalition both many defenders of traditional morality and most feminist groups.
