Bioethics in Faith and Practice, Volume 2, Number 1

Bioethics in Faith and Practice ⦁ 2016 ⦁ Volume 2 ⦁ Number 1 29 Surrogate mother arrangements, of necessity, treat the creation of a person as the means to the gratification of the interests of others, rather than respect the child as an end in himself. The surrogate mother, by the very nature of the transaction, cannot make a pretense to valuing the child in and for himself, since she would not otherwise be creating the child but for the monetary and other . . . considerations (that) she receives under the surrogate mother contract . xvi 4. The Psychological Relationship of the Child to its Parents: In our culture a woman’s womb has come to be viewed 'an easy-bake oven' for a gay couple that wants a child in the NBC comedy, The New Normal . When a Louisiana state senator introduced a law allowing for surrogacy, he described surrogacy as baking a loaf of bread in an oven. We have come to view women’s reproductive organs as vessels to be used, sold, rented or loaned and thus have disrespected the personhood of the surrogate as well as the child. Renowned marriage and family therapist Nancy Verrier, in her book The Primal Wound, writes about how mothers are biologically, hormonally, and emotionally programmed to bond with their babies in utero as well as at birth. A baby knows his mother at birth, and both the mother and the baby will experience grief at any separation at the time of birth. This primal wound is forever present . xvii Everyone has a family history and relationships that belong to them as a person, beginning from their genetic origins. This history significantly affects our personal identity in having a relationship not only to our mother and father but also to our immediate and extended family. A report released by the Institute for American Values, “My Daddy’s name is Donor: A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation,” found “sixty-five percent of donor offspring agree, ‘my sperm donor is half of who I am.’ Similarly, it found that “‘donor offspring are more likely to agree, ‘I don’t feel that anyone really understands me’”. xvii i Our genetic identity determines many of our traits and personal characteristics as does the nurturing, values, environment and up-bringing by our natural parents. Therefore, any method of procreation must respect the dignity of the personhood of the child. Yes, it is true that some children are deprived of the knowledge and value of their genomic relationships, through no fault of their own. It is normal for adopted children to yearn to know their own biological parents. However, it is one thing to make provision for the adoption of children deprived of one or both of their natural parents because of death or divorce; it is quite another thing to make provision for systematically and deliberately engineering situations that result in children being conceived and born who will be unable to know one or both of their natural parents, and consequently be deprived of their love and care. To discount the importance of genetic parents is to underestimate their crucial role in maintaining our personal identities. 5. The Argument from Old Testament Scripture and Jewish Law: Leviticus 18 speaks to unlawful sexual relationships. Verses 6-19 presents a list of forbidden sexual partners. In each case the prohibition is understood as “not uncovering the sexual organ of . . .” ( עֶרְוָ֑ה ervat: euphemistically rendered in most English translations as ‘nakedness’). It is interesting that the very next verse, Leviticus 18:20, contains the prohibition against adultery which literally translated reads “And you shall not give your semen to your neighbor’s wife for seed for defilement in her.” Here the text shifts emphasis from the sexual act, defined as penetration, to deposit of semen. In his Commentary on the Bible, ad locum, Nahmanides, a thirteenth-century commentator and exegete, points to the variance in nomenclature. xix