Comments on: A game of musical uterus http://emonk.org/2009/04/a-game-of-musical-uterus/ a many-brained bioethics blog Sun, 17 May 2009 21:26:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ckeathley http://emonk.org/2009/04/a-game-of-musical-uterus/comment-page-1/#comment-545 ckeathley Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:57:45 +0000 http://emonk.org/?p=160#comment-545 The decision to continue a pregnancy ultimately is that of the woman who is carrying the pregnancy, she incurs all the risk associated with pregnancy and therefore is the only one capable of balancing the risk:benefit ratio in any given circumstance. A woman may factor in any number of issues in deciding whether to continue a pregnancy or not. Is this an intended pregnancy or unintended? Is there a support system for raising the child? Is the pregnancy the result of a non-consensual act? Are there medical conditions that increase the health risk associated with carrying a pregnancy to term? Is there a genetic disorder in the fetus or other malformation? The issues raised in the cases presented are really no different than any other case where a woman struggles with the decision to carry a pregnancy to term or to terminate. Had either of the surrogates opted to terminate, we can no more say that decision was wrong than any other decision to terminate. The larger ethical issue that arises out of these cases is the appropriateness of paid surrogacy. Is paid surrogacy any different from an ethical standpoint than buying a kidney for transplant? If a woman can rent out her uterus for financial gain, why can I not sell one of my kidneys for the same reason? Certainly there is a role for surrogacy as there is a role for organ donation, but it should be an altruistic gift. Donors or surrogates should not have to incur expense for their gift, but nor should there be financial profit for the donor/surrogate. The decision to continue a pregnancy ultimately is that of the woman who is carrying the pregnancy, she incurs all the risk associated with pregnancy and therefore is the only one capable of balancing the risk:benefit ratio in any given circumstance. A woman may factor in any number of issues in deciding whether to continue a pregnancy or not. Is this an intended pregnancy or unintended? Is there a support system for raising the child? Is the pregnancy the result of a non-consensual act? Are there medical conditions that increase the health risk associated with carrying a pregnancy to term? Is there a genetic disorder in the fetus or other malformation?

The issues raised in the cases presented are really no different than any other case where a woman struggles with the decision to carry a pregnancy to term or to terminate. Had either of the surrogates opted to terminate, we can no more say that decision was wrong than any other decision to terminate.

The larger ethical issue that arises out of these cases is the appropriateness of paid surrogacy. Is paid surrogacy any different from an ethical standpoint than buying a kidney for transplant? If a woman can rent out her uterus for financial gain, why can I not sell one of my kidneys for the same reason? Certainly there is a role for surrogacy as there is a role for organ donation, but it should be an altruistic gift. Donors or surrogates should not have to incur expense for their gift, but nor should there be financial profit for the donor/surrogate.

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