In the article “Womb for Rent – For a Price” Goodman makes the claim that as international surrogacy rates increase, so too should questions regarding the ethics of such business. Although women cannot be forced (for all we know) into becoming a surrogate mother, in the low-income parts of the world some women have little choice. They make much more than they would at any other job offered to them. It becomes a question of whether or not the selling of human life crosses the line of morality. When humanity becomes secondary to business motives and profits, then maybe an industry must be halted. Goodman does however present the other side of this argument. She empathizes with couples who are unable to have a child of their own for whatever reason, but still desire for the child to have at least have of their genetic traits. In this regard it is a wonderful system and should continue. Similarly she does admit that women in third world countries and wives of men in the army can use this industry to generate enough income to pay for medical bills, weddings, and anything else needed to support their families. These present to the audience the need for this practice and cause them to feel not sorry for the women involved, but to understand their position.
In addition to empathizing with the surrogate mothers who need the money, she understands that this has become a part of some countries culture. That they do not see it as the selling of human life, but more of a means of taking care of their own family in any way possible. Goodman does an excellent job of looking at both the positive and negative outcomes and views of this surrogate industry. The only real problem I have with this article is that there are not any figures or data to support her claims. She says that this industry is increasing in popularity but does not support it with definite data. Other then that it’s just interesting in general that this many people desire to have their child carried by another woman. Never would have thought there would be a huge demand for this sort of thing.
I agree with you that the women of the third world countries are glad to accept the small payment of $5,000-7,000 in our world but in their world that is a significant amount of money. But also in my opinion i see that if you are not able to have children of your own then in the long run i think it is best that you adopt and give a child a better life that is already here on this earth.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the article helps you sympathize with the woman's position, especially about the woman who was then able to pay for her son's heart surgery. I understand that women in other countries will be making a lot of money in their country, but I think that we do not know enough about this industry to determine whether it is safe for the mothers or the children. In response to your last two sentences, I feel like this isn't a huge demand. I think if it was then we would have known more about it before reading the past two articles on it. I've enjoyed getting informed of this but I feel like it isn't a very popular trend, at least not in the U.S. because there are no statistics to support any claims.
ReplyDelete