Hi, am reading about surrogate motherhood. it seems to be a good option for those who are not able to give birth to their child for some or other reason. but is it really so. I think there are three parties involved in the issue. one is the couple who want a child, doctor and the woman who is ready to give birth to someone else's child. there are ethical relations between these three. which has to be taken into consideration. In India they call it surrogacy tourism or newly upcoming business. but I don't think so. giving birth to a baby cannot be business at any cost. I wont say that its a holy, pure religious act but this activity have some dignity and therefore cannot be looked at as money making business. but misuse  of science have been an problem for long time and this is not an exception. As a student of philosophy can I look at the ethical aspects of the same. if yes from which perspective? is it OK if  I use utilitarian theory to talk the positive side of the same.     

I've read recently Katherine M. Franke's paper, Theorizing Yes: An Essay on Feminism Law and Desire, in which she approaches the idea of repronormativity as a compulsory motherhood (parenthood actually, but she focuses on the feminist approach) In her paper Franke discusses how it is expected that women reproduce herselves and how this issue has been "taken for granted" in the femenist theory. She argues that not every woman actually wants to be a mother, and that this choice is actually like being heterosexual: social forces (heteronormativity) push women into motherhood. 
A month ago the ECHR decided in a case S.H.&Others vs. Austria that it is not against the European Convention on Human Rights to deny the use of ova of third person in In vitro fertilisation processes, the argument is that this could disrupt the "normal" development of the child because having two mothers can be specially awkward and it would pose many problems to establish kinship and parental rights.


This makes me wonder ... (read more)