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KMID : 1011120080020030275
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Bioethics Policy Studies
2008 Volume.2 No. 3 p.275 ~ p.289
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A Ethical Study on the Morality of Surrogacy in Assisted Reproductive Technology
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Kim Sang-Deuk
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Abstract
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With the help of an assisted reproductive technology, infertility physicians have given the gift of life to couples who had given hope for having a child of their own. Many new moral problems are implied in this medicine, one of which is “Is it ethically permissible to make an surrogate mother contract?” There are various types of surrogate mother, but this essay focuses on the gestational and altruistic surrogacy within one family.
When does the human life begin? This question is at the center of bioethics. Though it is closely connected with the morality of surrogacy, it is impossible to come to the one reasonable agreement on this question. So I don’t discuss it. Woman’s uterus plays an important role in the birth of baby. As for surrogacy, there are a variety of different pro and con arguments surrounding the reproductive freedom.
I discuss critically some ethical problems implied in surrogacy. Which one, ovum donor and surrogate mother, is the real mother of a ‘future baby’? We don’t confuse an biological mother with a social mother. An ovum donor must be a social mother for the surrogate mother contract to be legally accepted. And some infertility couple-genetically related relatives cannot be a surrogate mother to keep the integrity of the traditional family relationship. Who has the right to choose a surrogate mother among altruistic volunteers? Now infertility physicians have this right. Though some bioethist worry about a designer’s baby, it is ethically reasonable for infertility couple to have this right in an legal institution which governs the genetic enhancement.
Above all, a surrogate mother has all rights as human beings. Specially she has the right of body and we should protect it legally. An fetus or a future baby has the right to life and the wellbeing-right. Also we should protect them legally.
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KEYWORD
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Surrogate Mother, Reproductive Freedom, Assisted Reproductive Technology
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