With the highly publicized recent surrogacy for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, and the revelations about Michael Jackson’s children, people are taking notice of what some are calling, “wombs-for-rent.”
The phenomenon has been going on for some time now with surrogate mothers receiving from $20,000 to $30,000 or more to carry the child of a childless couple.
Surrogacy is especially popular California and it was reported last year that “surrogacy is a natural fit for military wives, with their solid support networks, premium medical care and strong dispositions. For some it’s easy money; for others it’s a way to help unlucky couples.Los Angeles Times.
There was a cover story for Newsweek several years ago that noted: “Thousands of largely invisible American women have given birth to other people’s babies. Many are married to men in the military.” The article acknowledged that one of the reasons that military wives were attractive candidates had to do with their excellent health insurance coverage.
While one woman revealed her family’s disgust with surrogacy, she said, ‘I’m OK with it because I know I am doing something good for somebody else. I am giving another couple what they could never have on their own—a family.’” Newsweek
BBC released a new film on Sunday about women who have carried more than one child, “Addicted to Surrogacy.” These mothers, too, felt that they were performing a valuable service to married couples who were unable to have children of their own. BBC America
The issue for children: In a recent New York Times article “No Stork Involved” we see the upside and the downside for children. “So despite the substantial costs (at least $30,000), there is now a group of young children whose parents are wrestling with this modern twist on the eternal question: ‘Where did I come from?’
“These parents have to take the often excruciating saga of all they went through to have a baby and turn it into a child-friendly, reassuring and true Your Birth Story. “ New York Times
It’s about DNA: Lorraine Dusky, author of Birthmark and blogger at Birth Mother, First Mother Forum had an interesting perspective. “If we have learned anything in all the years we have been involved in adoptee-rights work, it is that where one comes from–whose DNA one carries–is a crucial facet of one’s emotional bearings, and the psychic confusion that results from not knowing this is the cause of endless ennui and angst.” First Mother Forum.com
Copyright 2009 Rita Watson