Disturbing case re surrogacy

[Viviennemary]

I just read this on the DM website. Can't do links sorry. A couple in California hired a surrogate to have a baby for them. At the 20 week scan the baby was found to have a heart defect. This can be cured with a 75% survival rate. The couple want the surrogate to have an abortion. That is in her contract for this situation. She is now 35 weeks pregnant and there is suing and counter suing.
What a horrible mess.

This is the reality of surrogacy - you are renting a womb.

it is horrific but then so is surrogacy full stop.

Commercial surrogacy is human trafficking, I can’t be convinced other wise, it’s the commodification of humans, comes hand in hand with the exploitation of vulnerable women, has the sickening requirement of using brokers and agencies when creating life and never mind the immediate power imbalance that is created the minute a women becomes pregnant.

But as usual, women and children will always be the unwilling subjects of social experiments

How horrific.
I hope these awful human beings never get to become “parents”.

Surrogacy is awful. It should be illegal to rent a womb.

I suppose it's what's to be expected when you're treating these babies like products.

All surrogacy is disturbing.

Unfortunately this is the reality of surrogacy.

Heartbreaking.

I looked up the uk surrogacy laws. I knew it couldn't be done for money only expenses. I didn't know that agreements can't be enforced by the courts. At least that's something. What a minefield. I agree it's human trafficking of the worst kind.

This! Surrogacy is abhorrent & I can’t believe it’s legal never mind ‘celebrated’ !

Yes - it's 'reasonable expenses too' but if someone wants to 'gift' anything to the surrogate or their existing family, they can do. Through a previous job role, I knew of 3 surrogacy cases in a relatively short period of time.

It happens more than you imagine in the UK.

It's illegal in all forms in many countries such as France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Sweden. I wish the rest of the world would follow.

There was a case recently where they wanted the surrogate to abort because the baby had a cleft lip. It’s all horrific!

Awful. Like a faulty product. This isn't parenthood, this is product consumption. This isn't how it's supposed to be. I hope they get the life they deserve.

Exactly, you've commissioned your product, you've discovered it's faulty and you want out and you want your money back because this isn't what you've ordered. That's fine when it's a wedding dress you've commissioned but no one should be commissioning people.

The heart condition this baby has (HLHS) requires multiple surgeries that are considered palliative. It is not a simple fix. I'm not commenting on the surrogacy issue in play here but the cardiac defect is not simple and is one that many many people interrupt a pregnancy for (i work in fetal medicine and see this regularly). Maybe the surrogate parents aren't wishing for the baby to suffer.

75% survival is not the same as 75% survival with a good quality of life afterwards, unfortunately.

The parents may be making the same decision they would make if they were carrying the child.

And being America this surgery costs will probably be astronomical. But I still don't think a surrogate should be forced to have an abortion against her will. I doubt she could be whatever any agreement said. And so late on in a pregnancy it will be utterly traumatic.

All surrogacy cases are disturbing
I hope it gets banned.

But I can see both sides here, there is no guarantee of success for this surgery or of the baby being able to live a normal life afterwards. It’s a difficult decision for any parents to make.
Also the surrogate shouldn’t have agreed to have a baby for someone without accepting that it could require her to abort the pregnancy if there were health reasons

I'm really uncomfortable with any enforceable contract that can compel someone else to go through with an abortion that they don't want. When you (rightly or wrongly) outsource to a surrogate you have to accept that they are a person, not an unthinking vessel.

Also the surrogate shouldn’t have agreed to have a baby for someone without accepting that it could require her to abort the pregnancy if there were health reasons

But no one is ever forced to abort for health reasons, only advised; and a pregnant woman should never be required to abort at the say so of anyone else.

It’s awful. There was a case of a Thai surrogate carrying twins for an Australian couple. The boy twin had Down’s syndrome and they wanted the surrogate to abort him. She wouldn’t due to her beliefs. The couple kept the girl twin and abandoned the boy. The surrogate kept the baby boy in Thailand.

Yes I remember that case I think. Didn't the surrogate mother fight the abortion?

Yes, I was going to comment that hlh surgeries are ultimately palliative ( transplant is also a palliative surgery) and for some parents it’s too much and they may choose to end the pregnancy. The issue here is they have an engaged a surrogate who does not want to abort. It’s a bloody awful situation caused by surrogacy and a reason why it should be banned.

I agree because if I had my way surrogacy wouldn’t exist so this would never be an issue.

What I mean is if you agree to be a surrogate all parties involved need to agree what they are and are not comfortable with before going ahead and that may mean having an abortion in some circumstances.

They surrendered the ability to make all the decisions (morally - no idea legally) when they outsourced gestation to a contractor.