Bioethics in Faith and Practice, Volume 2, Number 1

Bioethics in Faith and Practice ⦁ 2016 ⦁ Volume 2 ⦁ Number 1 23 Bioethics in Faith and Practice vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 23-33. ISSN 2374-1597 © 2016, Mark Lones, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ) A Christian Ethical Perspective on Surrogacy Rev. Mark E. Lones, D.Min. Board Certified Chaplain/Clinical Ethicist Introduction: Infertility is a painful reality for many couples. However, assisted reproductive technologies (A.R.T.) are becoming increasingly more popular for infertile couples desperate to conceive. In 1972, physician and ethicist, Leon Kass warned that “infertility is a relationship as much as a condition – a relationship between husband and wife, and also between generations. More is involved than the interests of any single individual” . i Yet, most Christians have been reticent in asking what boundaries or principles need to be drawn. A recent Pew Research study found Americans, including evangelical Christians, largely do not see in vitro fertilization and surrogacy as a moral issue and thus do not take a position for or against it. ii This article will attempt to provide a Christian ethical perspective on one option of assisted reproductive techniques which is becoming increasingly popular, surrogacy. The term surrogacy or surrogate originates from the Latin word which means substitute. In the medical vernacular, the term surrogacy means using a substitute mother in the place of the natural mother. In other words, surrogacy is the reproductive practice in which a woman bears a child for another woman, and after birth, surrenders any parental claims to the child. It is probable that surrogacy has been employed through the ages to help women who are unable to bear children, themselves, to have families. However, until the late seventies no specific incidences are recorded in texts recounting medical history. The earliest example of “surrogacy” is in the Old Testament (Genesis 16:1-15). The story is told, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’” Abram did as he was told, and, at the age of 90 years, he was able to father a child by Hagar, and Ishmael was born. Surrogacy is divided into two categories: traditional and gestational. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate carrier is inseminated with the semen of the husband of the ‘commissioning couple’. While the semen is usually from the intended father, it could also be from a donor. As a result, in a traditional surrogacy the surrogate carrier is genetically related to the resulting child. Usually, the intended father's name is put directly on the birth certificate but the intended mother would need to do a step-parent adoption. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child. Eggs are extracted from the intended mother or egg donor and mixed with sperm from the intended father or sperm donor in vitro. The embryos are then transferred into the surrogate's uterus. Embryos which are not transferred may be frozen and used for transfer at a later time if the first transfer does not result in pregnancy. With gestational surrogacy there are several options: • Gestational surrogacy with intended embryo (GS/IE) – A surrogate is implanted with an embryo created by IVF, using intended father’s sperm and intended mother’s egg. The resulting child is genetically related to intended father and mother and genetically unrelated to the surrogate.