Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (5):404-409 (2000)
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In this paper we examine the questions “What does it mean to be a surrogate mother?” and “What would be an appropriate perspective for a surrogate mother to have on her pregnancy?” In response to the objection that such contracts are alienating or dehumanising since they require women to suppress their evolving perspective on their pregnancies, liberal supporters of surrogate motherhood argue that the freedom to contract includes the freedom to enter a contract to bear a child for an infertile couple. After entering the contract the surrogate may not be free to interpret her pregnancy as that of a non-surrogate mother, but there is more than one appropriate way of interpreting one's pregnancy. To restrict or ban surrogacy contracts would be to prohibit women from making other particular interpretations of their pregnancies they may wish to make, requiring them to live up to a culturally constituted image of ideal motherhood. We examine three interpretations of a “surrogate pregnancy” that are implicit in the views and arguments put forward by ethicists, surrogacy agencies, and surrogate mothers themselves. We hope to show that our concern in this regard goes beyond the view that surrogacy contracts deny or suppress the natural, instinctive or conventional interpretation of pregnancy
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DOI | 10.1136/jme.26.5.404 |
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Decolonization of the West, Desuperiorisation of Thought, and Elative Ethics.Björn Freter - 2019 - In Elvis Imafidon (ed.), Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference: The Othering of the Other. Cham: Springer. pp. 1-24.
Altruistic Surrogacy: The Necessary Objectification of Surrogate Mothers.M. M. Tieu - 2009 - Journal of Medical Ethics 35 (3):171-175.
Surrogate Motherhood: A Trust-Based Approach.Katharina Beier - 2015 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 40 (6):633-652.
Commodification of Human Tissue.Herjeet Marway, Sarah-Louise Johnson & Heather Widdows - 2014 - Handbook of Global Bioethics.
Commercial Surrogacy: How Provisions of Monetary Remuneration and Powers of International Law Can Prevent Exploitation of Gestational Surrogates.Louise Anna Helena Ramskold & Marcus Paul Posner - 2013 - Journal of Medical Ethics 39 (6):397-402.
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