Gestational Surrogacy and Baby Selling - Essay Example

Physical science Gestational surrogacy and baby selling Gestational surrogacy defines a process in which a woman, surrogate, undergoes a treatment that allows her to carry a pregnancy for another party. The surrogate cares for the unborn child until birth after which she delivers the child to the other party. Some of the features of gestational surrogacy are the selection of the surrogate based on features that the other party requires. Such features may include physical appearance, mental capacity, and physical health. These however induce materialistic aspect of the surrogacy and identify the notion of the practice as a sale arrangement. Many other issues have been raised that link gestational surrogacy with selling of a baby. The process involves a contract between the surrogate and the other party that will assume ownership of the child upon birth. Upon delivery, the surrogate receives agreed upon amount of money and delivers the child to the other party and these two factors form the basis of treating gestational surrogacy as a sale of the involved baby. Determination of whether gestational surrogacy is baby selling or not however requires an objective approach from the legal perspective of selling because this establishes a clear line between what amounts to selling and what does not. I think that gestational surrogacy is baby selling because it satisfies the legal definition of sale of goods and the baby is the good in this case. One of the elements for a sale of goods is existence of two parties, a seller, and a buyer. A buyer offers the subject good or promises to offer the good while the seller accepts the good at a price. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate agrees to offer the child and ultimately offers the child upon birth and the other party receives the child and pays for the receipt. Existence of a subject matter is another element of a sale of goods engagement and the baby exist as the subject matter in the surrogacy case. Consideration and transfer of ownership are other essentials of sale, surrogacy identifies a price that is paid to the surrogate, and ownership of the child transfers to the other party to the surrogacy agreement. The transfer is such that the surrogate does not claim ownership of the child after delivery. In addition, a transaction is a sale of good arrangement if it satisfies essential elements of a contract. These elements are agreement, consideration, legality of subject matter, and contractual capacity. Establishment of agreeable terms that are reduced to a written contract in the surrogacy process identifies agreement between the surrogate and the other party. Involved surgical processes that require consent also identifies agreement by the parties. Consideration is also evident in the arrangement through the amount of money that the surrogate receives for carrying the pregnancy. The practice also occurs under legal framework, requiring attorney’s fees to establish its legality. In addition, the legal process identifies contractual capacity of the contracting parties that includes majority age, sound health, and freedom from intoxication because attorneys would ensure these before overseeing an agreement (Rao 222; Shannon and Kockler 100- 102). The surrogacy arrangement therefore satisfies the legal definition of sale of goods and therefore identifies baby selling. This opinion is informed by the deontology ethical theory that recognizes existing rules in a society and judges actions based on such existing rules. Prohibiting surrogate gestational motherhood Gestational surrogate motherhood should not be prohibited. Two ethical perspectives support this position. Utilitarianism is one of the moral theories that support surrogate motherhood. The theory provides that consequences of an action is the basis for determining its morality and an act is moral if it derives net benefits to a majority of involved stakeholders. While societies value the family institution and its composition, lack of a child has moral harm that could emanate from intrinsic or extrinsic forces. A woman and her husband may lose their sense of worth for not having a child and the society may stigmatize against an individual who lacks a child. Having a child through surrogacy however reduces the burden and therefore benefits the surrogate mother and her immediate friends and family. The child as a member of the society also promises future benefits to the society. In addition, surrogate parenthood, owing to the involved high cost, identifies with financially stable people and promises the child a stable environment. Consequently, surrogate motherhood offers benefits to the child, the mother, the mother’s spouse, immediate relatives and friends, and the society. Even though it could build pressure on the surrogate woman, from her family, it is more likely that the surrogate considers and identifies net benefit in her decision into the surrogacy agreement. Surrogate motherhood should therefore not be prohibited because it is moral from utilitarian perspective (Shannon and Kockler 100- 102). Deontology ethics also supports morality in surrogate motherhood. According to the theory, an act id ethical if it is consistent with existing rules in a society. The surrogacy are however consistent with existing rules that though are legal, identifies moral perspective because of their common law basis. The legal provisions for sale of goods contract supports the scope of surrogate motherhood as long as she fulfils the consideration in her agreement with the surrogate. Further, as long as the contract into the surrogacy is valid, or is voidable but has not been revoked by any of the parties to the contract, surrogate motherhood remains consistent with rules and is therefore moral. Review of the issue from social perspective also identifies its morality under deontology ethics. Such scientific developments did not exist in ancient times and therefore no traditional value exists that oppose the practice. Even though dissent opinion may exist, such can be understood as personal opinions and not cultural values. Consequently, surrogate motherhood is consistent with traditional values in any society (Rao 222; Shannon and Kockler 100- 102). Deontological moral perspective that considers existing rules and utilitarian theory that considers consequences of actions and decisions therefore identifies morality of surrogate motherhood. These together with the legal environment means that surrogate motherhood should not be prohibited. Works cited Rao, Peddina. Business law. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2013. Print. Shannon, Thomas, and Kockler, Nicholas. An introduction to bioethics. New York, NY: Paulist Press, 2009. Print. Read More