Surrogacy Research Articles

UK intended parents’ characteristics, experiences, and views on surrogacy law reform

Abstract What are intended parents’ experiences of surrogacy, understandings of the law, and views on legal reform, and how do these compare with those of surrogates? We conducted an online retrospective survey of intended parents who had treatment with a gestational surrogate in two clinics between March 2014 and October 2021. The 61 respondents ranged in age, occupation, and household income. Generally, they reported higher household incomes than surrogates, though this was not universal. Just over half of the respondents were heterosexual, while almost half were in same-sex male couples. Most were White. Over half met the surrogate through a non-profit surrogacy organization or ‘online’. Most successfully established a pregnancy on their first surrogacy journey; in most of these cases, the surrogate delivered a child. Most respondents believed surrogates should not be the legal mother and there was general support for proposed reforms that would recognize intended parents as legal parents from birth. More ambivalence was apparent in relation to finances though expense models were preferred over payment models. There was general support for advertising. The UK anticipates draft new surrogacy legislation in spring 2023. This study could inform public and parliamentary debates in the UK and elsewhere. Moreover, the results from this survey can assist in the development of good practice models for the care of intended parents on the surrogate pathway.

The Motif of Sacrifice in Surrogacy

The regulation of surrogacy varies between different countries. There is a trend towards greater liberalization on the global level. Ethical evaluation creates a basic dilemma: Is surrogacy a superior form of solidarity between people or the instrumentalization of a woman’s body, being contrary to the fundamental dignity of every human person? How does surrogacy affect people involved in the process and what do decades of experience with surrogacy tell us about its effect on human beings? Is there an ideal form of surrogacy where reproductive parties themselves describe the relationship as satisfactory, fair, and just, and where the well-being of all involved parties is equally considered?In this article, we will look at the unsuccessful initiative to regulate at least the issue of altruistic surrogacy in the Council of Europe countries in 2016. The aspect of sacrifice of the surrogate mother for the well-being of the couple who wants a child is often raised. However, the mere altruistic intention to help another does not make an act ethically acceptable. The paper also draws attention to several ethical reservations regarding surrogacy. The most controversial issue is the instrumentalization of a woman’s body. Especially in poor countries, the victims of surrogacy are very badly informed about the procedure, while their freedom and autonomy are significantly infringed. A child born to a surrogate mother can also be a victim of various interests of intended parents, different corporations and the woman who gave birth to him/her. The paper outlines the vulnerability of the intended parents, the surrogate mother, and above all the child, who is often forgotten in the debates. Additionally, it also touches upon the frequently neglected ethical perspective of personal desire, sacrifice, and victimization. When is it ethically acceptable, from the point of the altruistic action recipient, to expect and accept altruistic actions? When do subjective expectations and desires cross the boundary that divides means of overcoming health limitations from mere selfishness? Last but not least, it also questions when the intent of helping others transforms from an ethically acceptable sacrifice to ethically unacceptable victimization.

Women in the Domain of Law in Russia: Emancipation and Counter-Emancipation

The emancipation of women in Russia, while it began quite fruitfully, during some periods of the development of the Russian (Soviet) society and Russian (Soviet) statehood had obvious failures that eventually reversed it resulting in counter-emancipation. To this day, these phenomena remain in an unfriendly interaction. This is most clearly demonstrated in political and social activities, labor (restrictions on the right of access to a profession; harassment), criminal policy (gender differentiation in the penal system, inefficiency in counteracting domestic violence), legal regulation of family relations (no legal recognition of de facto marriage; de facto polygamy; surrogate motherhood; property insecurity). The draft law on guarantees of equal opportunities for men and women and their implementation has been given a “red light”. The sociocultural context of the relations under consideration is heavily burdened by a patriarchal parlance. The authors suggest that despite the obvious fact that public opinion and legislative decisions are not generally oriented towards maintaining discrimination and/or counteremancipation, we have yet to see a clear and efficient breakthrough that would equalize the legal and actual statuses of men and women in the Russian legal system and in Russian society as a whole.

КСЕНОЛОГІЯ ЖІНОЧОГО: УКРАЇНСЬКІ ЖІНКИ В УЯВЛЕННЯХ КИТАЙСЬКОЇ МОЛОДІ

The article represents results of a socio-philosophical study of the ideas of educated Chinese youth about modern Ukrainian women. The survey had been carried out on Summer 2023 during a full-scale Russian war against Ukraine. At the same time, we proceeded from the standpoint of the current state of Ukrainian-Chinese relations and the least possible politicization of the survey. The study involved an analysis of associations and was an in-depth loosely coupled interview with a orientative set of questions. The guide-interview was written in Ukrainian and English, with subsequent translation into Chinese. It is important for research that the interviewer was a woman. The interview was conducted by the Chinese co-author of this article under usual conditions. The answers were translated into Ukrainian. Direct translation of some answers was quite difficult, so clarifications and explanations were made in English. The research is socio-philosophical and does not fully correspond to sociological canons. The sources of the formation of these ideas were also investigated. In particular, coverage of the status of Ukrainian women during the Russian war in the Chinese segment of the Internet in English and Chinese. The article demonstrates how the publications available on the sites outline ideas about modern women and then broadcasted by young people in the form of concepts, lines of thought, contexts and accents. By definition of xenology the author means the direction of socio-philosophical searches aimed at understanding the "outlying", "other" and "different". In the course of the research, it was found that the characteristics of Ukrainian women do not contain signs of "alien" or "enemy". It has been demonstrated that the socio-cultural space of Chinese youth is permeated with various stereotypes, among which gender stereotypes occupy a leading place. The need for further research into an important problem for Chinese youth – surrogate motherhood – had been well-founded. It had been noted that the study of stereotypes requires a methodology that uses intersectionality and is based on an interdisciplinary approach. The study had confirmed that socio-philosophical analysis based on an intersectional approach can serve the interdisciplinary transfer of experimental data in gender studies.

Animating theAffect–Care–Labor Linkin the Wake of “The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill”: Care Ethics and Policymaking on Indian Surrogacy

AbstractStarting from the early 2000s, India was one of the most sought-after destinations for commercial surrogacy. However, in 2015 the government decided to ban transnational commercial surrogacy, and recently “The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021,” which bans commercial surrogacy altogether and confines it to its altruistic form, has been enacted. Our article makes a philosophical intervention into the policy debate around this move by analyzing various draft versions of “The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill” which culminated in the ban. We argue that the Bill fails to realize its ethical potential since it is vitiated by a number of conceptual fallacies. We expose the conceptual fallacies by unpacking the concept of care in gestational surrogacy through the lens of care ethics. The robust conceptualization of care serves as a critical vantage point for analyzing the Bill's distorted understanding of care (and especially the affect–care–labor link) in gestational surrogacy. Consequently, we conclude that regulation of commercial surrogacy with fair compensation and due consideration for the agency of surrogates holds far greater ethical potential than a blanket ban on commercial surrogacy and mandating that it be practiced only in its altruistic form.

Agreement on surroggy maternity as a regulator of these legal relations

Thanks to the high level of development of modern medicine, citizens of Ukraine who are faced with the problem of infertility have the opportunity to resort to the help of auxiliary reproductive technologies. In the presence of medical indications, citizens can apply for the services of a surrogate mother. The article considers one of the most interesting methods of assisted reproductive technologies from a legal point of view - surrogate motherhood. Despite the fact that legal grounds for surrogate motherhood appeared in Ukraine back in 2011-2013 (when the relevant normative acts were adopted and entered into force), now there are many practical and theoretical problems related to the institution of surrogate motherhood. At the moment, Ukraine has not adopted a single normative legal act regarding the use of assisted reproductive technologies, however, the current legislation contains a sufficient number of norms regulating this issue. It is worth noting that in Ukraine, a contract of surrogacy can be both commercial and free of charge. The problem of its legal nature is also complicated by the fact that the legislator still did not define the concept of contract, did not foresee the form of conclusion of the contract and its essential conditions. The author points to the presence of visible «gaps» in the current legislation. At the end of the article, the author came to the conclusion about the possibility of eliminating conflicts between the current legislation and the existing judicial practice by adopting a single normative act. The article summarizes national and foreign judicial practice on this issue, and formulates the author's position. It is very important to talk about the need for availability of information regarding the use of assisted reproductive technologies. Therefore, it is important to systematize and organize such information, creating a single regulatory act that regulates the application of such a method of assisted reproductive technologies as surrogacy, as well as to provide a place for a contract on surrogacy .

Pravne i etičke dileme kod surogat materinstva u međunarodnom privatnom pravu

The coming time and the growing presence of surrogate motherhood brings new legal, bioethical and moral dilemmas in biomedically assisted fertilization and birth for another. Does man as a subject of law and his dignity reject the possibility of legalizing experimentation and exsploatation as well as mans destructionor it takes place with the aim of improving mans life and himself as a supreme good and modern achievement. In the legal systems of the countries, there are different legal regulations, due to which there is a need to determine the applicable law that would solve the issue of surrogate motherhood, which mother is considered the mother of the child, genetic or gestational. The rules of national private international law should answer this question using not only analogy and extensive interpretation, but also the creation of a special conflict norm to build a new relationship. The countries of the world legally regulate gestational surrogacy in very different ways. Biomedicine has an advantage over the legal regulation of relationship arising from surrogate motherhood. Legal regulations lags behind development, opportunities and what is happening in the field of biomedicine. The is way surrogate motherhood remains unregulated in many countries, often prohibited and only sometimes only allowed and legally regulated.

Commercial Names in the Field of Surrogacy Motherhood

The paper studies advertising names of companies in the field of reproductive health, particularly those providing surrogacy services. In modern medical onomasticon, they broadly divide between descriptive names of a formal nature that refer to state medical institutions preserved from the Soviet era, and the names of new medical organizations following the tradition of new commercial naming, i.e. advertising names. However, it should be noted that there is no direct correlation between the name and the form of ownership: state institutions can also acquire advertising names to more competitive, and private medical organizations can use “Soviet” designation patterns to earn confidence through referring to the tradition. In addition, surrogate motherhood is a special sphere of health care that is not limited to medical institutions themselves, but also includes “near medical” (consulting) agencies specializing in the selection of surrogate mothers. Competition among the latter is higher, and legislative regulation is lower, which stimulates the imagination and creativity of company naming. The very idea of surrogate motherhood and, more broadly, modern assisted reproductive technologies are ambiguously perceived by society and often rejected by those clinging to traditional views. Therefore, it is interesting to consider the mechanisms for overcoming this rejection, expressed in advertising names and appealing to a complex of positive associations and allusions.

Chapitre 4. PMA : la nouvelle donne. La révision de la loi de bioéthique en 2021

The new version of the bioethics law adopted in 2021 is distinguished first and foremost by its openness. It legitimises access to medically assisted procreation for lesbian couples and single women. It allows young adults born through gamete donation to know their origins. It allows any woman to freeze her oocytes with a view to a subsequent pregnancy, without any medical condition. At the same time, the new law is characterised by its moderation. These new freedoms do not challenge the primacy of conjugal parenthood. Multiple parenthood is not on the agenda. The law establishes a differentiated filiation between heterosexual parentage and homoparentage. It confirms the absolute ban on surrogate motherhood. Between authorisations and prohibitions, the fourth bioethics law promotes a tempered liberalism.

Establishing paternity in relation to children born by a surrogate mother in judicial order

Establishing paternity in relation to children born by a surrogate mother in judicial order

Caring for Delivery: Healthcare Professionals’ Ethical Conflicts in Surrogate Pregnancy

AbstractFrom the beginning of the practice of surrogate pregnancy, ethical approaches to it have included several dimensions. Central issues such as surrogates’ genuine autonomy, the risk of exploitation of people in vulnerable situations, or the legitimacy of the commercialization of the body have kept this debate alive for more than three decades. Among all the conflicts, those related to healthcare professionals involved in the surrogacy process have been less frequently addressed. Which patient(s) should they protect? Whose interests should they preserve, the surrogate mother's or the intended parents’? Are there differences in healthcare provision between regular pregnant women and those who are going to relinquish their babies? Is adequate compliance with the ethical standards of the caregiver–patient relationship possible? In this article, I will address these questions to identify interests and practices at stake in the healthcare context, where an important part of the surrogacy process occurs.

Leihmutterschaft in der Ukraine: Probleme der gesetzlichen Regelung, Analyse der Rechtsprechung.

There are no proper laws in Ukraine that regulate surrogacy to the necessary extent. This is particularly evident when intended parents are foreigners. According to Article 123 of the Family Code of Ukraine, parenthood is recognized based on genetic characteristics, however, this claim may miss the main objective of the law, namely the best interests of the child. This also means that the surrogate mother cannot keep the child. The formalities for the conclusion of the contract and the resulting legal consequences must be laid down in the law to allow the intended parents to enforce their claims. Current laws are very intrusive into the private life of the surrogate mother and her environment, which is a violation of the ECHR Convention. New laws are needed to provide better legal protection for both parties and take better account of the child's true interests.

Third-Party Reproduction - What's Trending on Instagram?

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, authorship and content type of third-party reproduction-related information shared on Instagram by hashtag analysis. A list of 10 hashtags consisting of terms related to third-party reproduction was derived. Content analysis was performed in December 2021 on the most recent 100 posts for each hashtag to determine authorship and content type. Our search yielded 838,151 posts. The 3 most popular hashtags were 'surrogacy', 'surrogate' and 'surrogacy journey.' Authorship of the top posts were: patients (59.2%), professional society (14.2%), for-profit commercial groups (11.4%), allied health professional (9.4%), physicians (3.3%), and other (2.5%). Patient experiences accounted for the largest share of posts (39.4%), followed by personal posts unrelated to diagnosis (21.5%), outreach posts (19.5%), advertisements (14.2%) and educational (4.8%). Patients authored the majority of posts. The vast majority of Instagram posts related to third-party reproduction were authored by patients who shared their own personal experiences. Within surrogacy, both gestational carriers and intended parents shared their experiences providing perspective into the surrogacy process. Physician participation may improve the quality and quantity of educational posts and offer a low-cost platform for networking and connecting with patients.

Ethical and Legal Issues Related to Surrogacy

With the latest advances of technology and in a fast-changing world how prepared are we to accept the new changes? How are we supposed to know right from wrong or separate one from the other? Does what we consider right always remains as such or in such a fast-developing society morals, values and principles do also change? We live in a world of ‘living’ rights and living Constitutions, where human rights are interpreted in today’s settings. However, while some principles seem easy to discuss in general terms, it is just as difficult to elaborate them in concrete terms, particularly when the subject of discussion is a personal matter. Hence, people seem divided between what one would, could, or should do when the matter concerns their own rights. A particular issue that has generated many discussions in recent years is the one related to surrogacy, the ethical and legal dilemmas surrounding the subject, as well as the challenges facing surrogate and biological mothers, children born via surrogacy or families of surrogate children. The practice of surrogacy also raises human rights concerns in particular with regard to personal identity, dignity, family or legal status, as well as civil rights and obligations. Such concerns must be carefully examined paying particular importance on the rights of the children, also bearing in mind society’s everchanging values. This article discusses such issues, with a special focus on the case law of the United States of America and the European Court of Human Rights.

APPLICATION OF SURROGACY TECHNOLOGY BY FOREIGNERS IN UKRAINE (LEGAL CONFLICT).

The aim: To establish legal conflicts between the use of surrogacy technology by foreigners in Ukraine, to develop mechanisms to overcome them. Materials and methods: The study used a methodology that embodies an interdisciplinary approach that allows systematic analysis of theoretical and practical aspects of legal conflicts in the use of surrogacy technology by foreigners in Ukraine, as well as develop proposals for their elimination. Conclusions: It is proposed to adopt at the level of an international act unified approaches to determining the origin of a child born as a result of the use of surrogate motherhood technology to eliminate legal conflicts. The need to amend the legislation of Ukraine and the establishment of a ban on unilateral refusal from the surrogacy agreement after the embryo has been implemented is argued. Based on the analysis of judicial practice, it was established what problems may arise in the registration of paternity and maternity by foreign genetic parents in connection with the application of the surrogacy procedure by foreigners in Ukraine in cases where their native legislation does not permit or restricts surrogacy.

Юридическая хроника

X All-Russian Congress of Judges - New Year’s set of sanctions - Amendments to the institute of surrogate motherhood - Elon Musk and Crusade against Digital Censorship

Bioethical Problems of China’s Demographic Policy: Background and Present

The article is devoted to the study of bioethical problems of China’s demographic policy. One of the main instruments of birth control in the country for 30 years was artificial termination of pregnancy – abortion. Because of this, contradiction between the political course of the state and the traditional, rooted in society, moral principles and values arises. Population policy has become a harsh method of restricting the reproductive rights and freedom of private life of the Chinese population. The current situation determines relevance and necessity of studying China’s demographic policy from the point of view of bioethics. Thus, the article discusses background for approval of the policy “One family – one child”; the implications of this policy, such as the bioethical issues of medical termination of pregnancy and selective abortion in China; transformation of the traditional institution of the family; moral and ethical status of the second child; the problem of the prohibition of surrogate motherhood; gender imbalance; increase in illegal services in the field of medical and reproductive technologies. Bioethical aspects of modern Chinese demography; socio-cultural changes in Chinese society due to a long period of birth control policies are analyzed. The reasons for the low efficiency of modern state measures to stimulate childbearing are considered.

Особенности течения многоплодной беременности после экстракорпорального оплодотворения

Objective. To study the course of multiple pregnancy after the use of different methods of assisted reproductive technologies. Patients and methods. A total of 234 patients with multiple pregnancy developed through in vitro fertilization (IVF) were examined: 99 patients under the surrogate motherhood program (IVF-SM), 68 women after IVF with donor oocytes (IVF-DO), and 67 patients after IVF with own oocytes (IVF-OO). Patient subgroups were formed based on the presence or absence of obstetric complications. Results. Univariate analysis of pregnancy course showed that the incidence of gestational hypertension was significantly higher in the IVF-DO group than in the IVF-SM and IVF-OO groups. Pre-eclampsia (PE) in patients in the IVF-DO group was significantly more common than in the IVF-SM group (OR: 5.87; 95% CI: 1.94–17.74, p < 0.0005). Intrahepatic cholestasis (11.7%) and gestational diabetes (7.3%) were also more common in the IVF-DO group, but these data were not statistically significant. In multivariate analysis adjusted for maternal age, the incidence of PE remained significantly higher in the IVF-DO group compared with the IVF-SM group (OR: 7.68; 95% CI: 1.64–35.84, p < 0.0055). There were no significant differences between the IVF-DO and IVF-OO groups (OR: 2.8; 95% CI 0.77–10.22, p < 0.1487) and the IVF-OO and IVF-SM groups (OR: 0.36; 95% CI 0.11–1.24, p < 0.1305). Conclusion. Multiple pregnancy following IVF-DO is significantly associated with a higher risk of pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction compared with the IVF-OO and IVF-SM groups. Key words: multiple pregnancy, oocyte donation, pre-eclampsia, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization

Aantekeninge: The fight for the child in “smart” surrogate motherhood agreements

Surrogaatmoederskap is ’n omstrede kwessie en het baie morele en etiese grys areas binne die wetgewende raamwerk. In Suid-Afrika word altruïstiese surrogaatskap verkies bo kommersiële surrogaatskap, en word streng gereguleer deur die Kinderwet 38 van 2005, die Nasionale Gesondheidswet 61 van 2003 en die regulasies met betrekking tot die kunsmatige bevrugting van persone van 2012. Daarteenoor verbied Duitsland kunsmatige bevrugting en surrogaatskap onder die Embryonenschutzgesetz en die Adoptionsvermittlungsgesetz. Wanneer surrogaatmoederskapooreenkomste egter in ’n Suid-Afrikaanse konteks oorweeg word, vereis die Kinderwet die nakoming van streng formaliteite vir ’n geldige surrogaatmoederskapooreenkoms, insluitend, onder andere, dat so ’n ooreenkoms skriftelik moet wees en deur die partye onderteken word. Niks verhoed dat ’n surrogaatmoederskapooreenkoms in elektroniese formaat geplaas word nie, soos gereguleer deur die Wet op Elektroniese Kommunikasie en Transaksies 25 van 2002, mits gevorderde elektroniese handtekeninge gebruik word om so ’n ooreenkoms te onderteken. Dit sal effektief verhoed dat vir surrogaatmoederskapooreenkomste die formaat van e-pos, SMS, WhatsApp of dies meer gebruik word. Die outeurs ondersoek die saak deur te vra of surrogaatmoederskapooreenkomste dan die vorm van ’n slimkontrak kan aanneem. Hierin word ’n onderskeid getref tussen slimkontrakte wat nie blokkettingtegnologie gebruik nie (“af van die ketting”-slimkontrakte) en daardie slim kontrakte wat blokkettingtegnologie gebruik (“op die ketting”-slimkontrakte). Anders as meer komplekse algoritmes wat die slimkontrak onderlê, onderskei min ’n slimkontrak wat “af van die ketting” is van ’n elektroniese kontrak. Aan die ander kant is ’n “op die ketting” slimkontrak nie in staat om beëindig of gewysig te word nie en is dus problematies wanneer sake rakende ’n kind hanteer word, wat kan vereis dat ’n surrogaatmoederskapooreenkoms beëindig of gewysig moet word. Wetgewende ontwikkelings in Europa ingevolge die Datawet vereis dat sodanige “op die ketting”- slimkontrakte die vermoë moet hê om beëindig te word. Hierdie ontwikkelings, sou dit in Suid-Afrika toegepas word, sal die voordeel van “op die ketting”-slimkontrakte verminder tot bloot ’n instrument vir rekordhouding van die transaksie. Die outeurs kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat ’n “slim” surrogaatmoederskapooreenkoms nie gebruik moet word nie, aangesien dit ’n rigiede vorm vereis; hoewel voordelig in kommersiële transaksies, kan dit nie die beste belang van die kind en die betrokke partye ondersteun nie. Die samelewing kan immers nie die belange van ’n kind aan die outomatiese uitvoering van ’n algoritme oorlaat nie.

Future of Commercial Surrogacy in India: A Critical Analysis

Future of Commercial Surrogacy in India: A Critical Analysis