Why Is Surrogacy Controversial?

Surrogacy is the most controversial version of Alternate Family Planning. There’s no doubt about it when most countries have strictly prohibitive laws around what kind of surrogacy you can pursue, when, and under what conditions. The US actually has very progressive policies surrounding surrogacy. So why have so many countries put hardline laws around surrogacy?

Renting A Womb

Many countries oppose surrogacy due to its compensatory nature. Most surrogates accept a compensation fee for their time and the danger that carrying a child poses to their well-being. There is nothing wrong with this monetization. However, surrogacy naysayers will argue that the compensating surrogates attract people with wombs that are in desperate situations and are willing to trade their wombs for money. Frankly, this is very far from the truth.

Most surrogacy agencies require their surrogates to be financially stable and in a healthy living situation before accepting them as a gestational carrier. The exploitative view of surrogacy is also maintained by media portrayal of surrogacy, often showing people who are bargained into the process. This is truly not the case for actual surrogacy and agency behavior. Most agencies require a certain level of financial security and social stability to qualify.

Issues of Parentage

Surrogacy naysayers favorite argument is that the gestational carrier is biologically the mother, making the child legally theirs and the biological father’s. This may have been true once, but this is no longer the case.

Gestational surrogacy is the most common form of surrogacy these days. Having a gestational surrogate requires three people: one person with sperm, one person with an egg, and one person with a womb. Thus, the surrogate would be the only one involved in the creation of the child that is not related to them. 

Deep-Seated Homophobia

Surrogacy helps a lot of people struggling with infertility grow their families. To some people’s dismay, this includes same-sex couples. This is the absolute stupidest reason to oppose surrogacy. The LGBTQ+ community is full of loving and caring parents who want nothing more than to care for a child. They should have the opportunity to do so.

How someone decides to grow their family is up to them, not anyone else.

If you have questions about surrogacy, please reach out to our staff here.