Toward A Feminist Christian Vision of Gestational Surrogacy

Abstract

Although increasing in usage, surrogacy remains the most controversial method of assisted reproductive technology. Many Christian ethicists have either objected tout court or expressed strong reservations about the practice. Behind much of this caution, however, lies essentialist assumptions about pregnant women or an overemphasis on the statistical minority of well-publicized disasters. The question remains whether Christian ethical reflection on surrogacy might change if informed by social scientific studies on the surrogacy triad (i.e., surrogates, surrogate-born children, and intended parents). I offer a feminist Christian framework for surrogacy comprised of seven principles drawn from this literature, the reproductive justice paradigm (RJ), human rights, and Reformed theo-ethical norms (viz, covenant, fidelity, stewardship, self-gift). I ultimately advance surrogacy under certain conditions as a moral good and focus on “altruistic” arrangements—including my own—without concluding that only non-commercial contracts could pass ethical muster.