Another celebrity uses a surrogate

[EachandEveryone]

Michelle Williams who I love. Already birthed three babies. Just why? https://people.com/michelle-williams-thanks-surrogate-for-miracle-baby-girl-after-welcoming-fourth-child-11793338

Well - we don’t know why she’s chosen this route, if I’m being generous.

But - I agree it seems to be more and more common to hear of celebrities using surrogates.

I’m not sure if that’s ’more people facing infertility issues etc would use this route in general if they could afford to do so’ or is it ‘pregnancy is bloody awful and they are now able to buy their way out of it’.

Surrogacy really does seem to be in the mainstream now though, I am not quite sure what to think!

I don’t know the actress really but I’m always disappointed when celebrities use surrogates- especially when they already have children. I can understand someone wanting to use a surrogate if they are unable to carry their own baby (still think it’s wrong but can understand the desire).

But this is just immensely selfish, greedy and sad IMO.

I agree it’s more common in America than the Uk, but she’s 44. It might not have been by choice.

Of course it was by choice @caityvh! No one forced her to enlist another woman to have a baby for her. Women in their 40s who already have three children very much have the choice not to have more children- it’s a choice that many of us make.

I realise that you meant ‘no choice’ as in- unable to now become pregnant and carry a healthy baby to term. And that’s because of her age. That’s what happens to all of us.

It’s absolutely choice. It’s a 4th child. No one forced her to procure another baby by outsourcing the job to a poorer woman. She chose to do it presumably because she felt entitled to have another child.

‘But the miracle of our little girl is thanks to Christine. Maybe you're watching out there; thank you, Christine."
She continued, adding, "Thanks to Christine, I have three under 5 at home."’

Maybe you’re watching out there 🙄. Christine sat on the sofa at home, having given birth to 3 children in 5 years. So desperate for money as she was. I can’t stand surrogacy, sorry.

No one should be allowed to buy a child.

I suppose at least she’s acknowledged the woman that put her body and life at risk. So many seem to pretend that the surrogate evaporates after the birth and never existed- looking at you, Tom Daley.

we do need to bring surrogates into the light and show they are real people with real risks, with family they risk leaving and the reason they do it. Currently they’re faceless ghosts no one considers or even thinks about the harm they face.

Still don’t agree with it though. Can’t image any reason anyone would need to put another person’s life at risk for a 4th child.

I can’t see that these children born through surrogacy won’t have serious issues growing up it’s fucked up

Should I be allowed to birth a child for money? What if I wanted to help an infertile relative, or friends who are a gay couple and want a child who is generally related to them? I don’t understand why people have such an issue with consensual surrogacy. My body, my choice.

Ok so you’ve talked about your body, your gay friends want for a child, an infertile relative.

the one thing you don’t seem to have considered is the child. Where do their wants and need fit into this?

is it ethical to bring a child into their world then force it away from its mother to suit someone else’s want?

do you know that carrying a child unrelated to you dramatically increases the chance of adverse events? We’re talk anything including death here- and surrogates have died.

and no, it’s not like adoption where the decision is made in the best interest of the child. Plus we know adoption isn’t always sparkles and rainbows.

Some women in Uk join agencies to become surrogates voluntarily, not because they're poor. In fact, they usually have a partner supporting them financially so they don't have to do paid work

No you should not be allowed to sell a child either.

I have slightly less issues with altruistic surrogacy between family members for example but I still think that it is absolutely fraught with difficulties and ethical issues. We struggled with infertility for many years and it is not a road we would ever have considered.

When you are having a baby it’s not just about “your body, your choice”, it’s about what is right for the resulting child.

The child’s needs matter most. Taking a newborn away from its birth mother is horrifying.

the children aren’t volunteering to be involved in surrogacy though are they?

even if the surrogate does it for genuinely altruistic reasons, I still don’t think it’s in the best interest of the child.

That was my thought too, what will be the psychological impact on the child when they're old enough to find out that they're the only one of the sibling group that wasn't actually carried and birthed by Michelle.

@Crushed23 should you be allowed to buy a baby?

of course she had a choice! She already had 2 toddlers and teenage daughter. There was not need for another!

I honestly cannot imagine doing that to another woman 🙁

It’s so common in celeb land isn’t it?

I just don’t understand, if she has already been blessed with 3 of her own biological children and with all her privilege, why she wouldn’t consider adoption.
To put a value on Christine’s life and health in order to bring another child into the world is incredibly selfish. The chance at life she could have given to a child in care instead!

Did she have 3 children by surrogate Christine ? That’s how it read to me 3 under 5 in which case no words

I’ve been through the adoption process and something we were categorically told at the beginning was that all adopted children even adopted as newborn babies have been through trauma because a baby being taken from its mother after being born causes trauma.
It’s sad it’s becoming so normal in the celebrity world and seems to be a legitimate option if pregnancy doesn’t suit for whatever reason.
I empathise if this is the only
way you’re going to be a parent but here this wasn’t the case.

I don’t think we should use the term ‘used a surrogate’ or ‘by surrogate’ as it hides the reality that a baby has been bought and separated from its birth mother.

In animals a surrogate is a mother that takes on the child of another - it was until recently used in that way for humans ‘she was a surrogate mother to me’ meaning a woman that wasn’t the birth mother taking on the maternal role. The word still carries a cosy feeling even though its meaning g has been completely swapped.

They just say it so glibly don't they. Welcomed by surrogate. When I had DD I nearly died and was left unable to have any more children. Childbirth can be a risky thing for the mother but these celebrities obviously don't even let that cross their minds in their want for a child. Or maybe it does and they just don't care.

You can't buy a toddler so why should you be able to buy a baby?

I can see both sides of the surrogate debate. I agree with separating baby from mother is traumatic but isn't the baby usually bio mother egg and doner sperm/ partner sperm? In which case you would say 'I wanted you but mummy's body was broken so someone else had to grow you...or something much better!