Surrogacy BBC show

[Blinkingheckythump]

So I've just watched the series on BBC about surrogacy and I'm really surprised about how it's made me feel. Prior to watching it I thought surrogacy was an amazing thing and that anyone who does it is selfless and incredible. And now I just feel like surrogacy is maybe not healthy mentally for the majority of the birth mothers.
Out of all the surrogates shown on the show the only one who didn't seem to have elements of mental health issues was the one who was a surrogate for someone she actually knew. The others all seemed at a minimum to have low self esteem. And one seemed slightly unhinged in how desperate she was to be needed and wanted by a couple wanting a surrogate, she even attended a meet up to find a new couple 2 weeks after giving birth!

They state that a surrogate cannot be paid, only have expenses covered. Yet one surrogate had clocked expenses of over 7k. How does it cost a person 7k to be pregnant?! And all of the surrogates were noticeably poorer than the intended parents.

Aibu to feel that in a way that the majority of surrogates are vulnerable woman who really shouldn't be renting out their womb either for "expenses" or to boost their sense of self worth?

I'm actually really surprised by how this show changed my view on surrogacy.

@DorothyZbornakIsAQueen

You will NEVER EVER see a rich woman being a surrogate for a poor woman. It's always the rich 'buying' from the poor.

All pregnancies carry risk to the woman, including death, and a baby isn't a commodity to be bought and sold.

The surrogacy farms in places like the Ukraine, are just disgraceful. Vulnerable women, paid to have babies for rich folk, who then couldn't collect the child due to the pandemic. Dozens of babies left to be looked after by not 1 single person who had a family connection to them, until they could be 'collected', if they even were.

Women's bodies are not for rent and babies cannot and should not be bought.

I agree with this. Women and children are not commodities. The arguments about happy surrogates choosing their roles sound like the Happy Hooker trope to me.