Surrogate motherhood is an auxiliary reproductive technology, in which a woman agrees to endure and then give birth to a child that is alien to her biologically. Then the newborn is transferred to further education for other people - his real genetic parents.
Legally, they will be considered the parents of this child. Sometimes surrogate motherhood is also said in cases of the woman's fertilization by a man with the subsequent transfer of the child to this man himself with his wife (if he is married). In this case, the surrogate mother is also the genetic mother of the baby.
Questions of History
Surrogate motherhood has many centuries. Even in ancient Rome, wishing to earn men gave their young wives "rent" to childless couples. A child born of such a "hired" mother was later the legitimate child of this married couple. The services of a woman giving birth were generously paid for.
In ancient wealthy Jews, barren wives resorted to the services of slaves who were used to give birth to children from this woman's husband. The first in the birth of a baby on his hands immediately took a legal wife, showing his absolute right to the baby.
Scientific and technological progress together with the process of women's emancipation gave birth to new ways of solving the problem of family infertility. The modern concept of "surrogate motherhood" is directly related to the technologies of artificial and extracorporeal fertilization. Today genetic material is taken from both genetic parents (and not only from the husband, as it was before) and "sits" in a natural natural "incubator" - the organism of the selected surrogate mother.
The first successful example of a surrogate motherhood was declared in 1980. Then the first surrogate mother was the 37-year-old large daughter Elizabeth Kane. A barren woman concluded a contract with Elizabeth, according to which artificial insemination was carried out with the sperm of her husband. After giving birth, Kane received a cash reward. At the time, Elizabeth Kane had three children of her own.
Ethics issues
There are many opponents of surrogate motherhood around the world, talking about turning children into a kind of product. In the opinion of feminists, this practice means the widespread exploitation of women as "incubators" who do not have their rights and choice. Religious figures see an immoral tendency that destroys the sanctity of the bonds of marriage and family.
There are also (quite justifiably) fears that some women who are going to conception for the sake of the interests of another family may be traumatized psychologically by the need to give up a nurturing child. It happens that a child becomes "her own" during pregnancy, even if at first it seemed to the surrogate mother that she could easily part with the baby. This can really become a problem for both sides of the treaty, since no country has a law that forces a woman to give birth to a child she has born. Many couples crash (psychologically and financially), paying the entire pregnancy to a woman, keeping her this time, giving her everything she wants, and then remaining without a child.
Issues of legislation
Laws aimed at regulating surrogate motherhood vary from country to country. So, in Germany, France, Norway, Austria, Sweden, in some US states, surrogate motherhood is outlawed. In some countries only non-commercial (voluntary and unpaid) surrogate motherhood is allowed - in the Australian state of Victoria, in Britain, Denmark, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and some US states (Virginia and New Hampshire). In Greece, Belgium, Spain and Finland, surrogate motherhood is not regulated by law, but in fact often occurs.
Finally, in a number of countries, surrogate motherhood, both royalty-free and commercial, is legal. This is a larger number of US states, Russia, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. An important moment in the conclusion of an official agreement on surrogate surrogate motherhood - how much all its parties are aware of all possible risks.