Really? I mean... Really??
- Mon, 2007-12-31 17:59 — sjames
USA Today reported yesterday on a clinic in India providing surrogacy services to couples from across the world. The article says that there are many such clinics in India but that the numbers are hard to track. Surrogacy is actually a pretty neat concept and sometimes the only option when a couple wants a child, though I'm sure most couples consider it a last resort. But has the world become so global that even our own fertility is being outsourced?
A co-worker told me today about his friend that works for a self-insured company. If an employee of that company needs a major surgery, the employee is flown to India for the surgery at the company's expense. Even with the cost of the trip, that option is cheaper than having the surgery in America.
A friend of my wife was at one of her first pre-natal visits and her doctor actually asked her, "Have you thought about whether your are planning a vaginal birth or a Caesarean?" My cynical mind is just wondering...how long before couples who already have elective C-sections start to just send off to India for someone to have their baby for them, and forgo even the nine-months of pregnancy. The article states that the cost of the surrogacy is often below $10,000. That seems cheaper than a C-section or even a normal hospital birth. How long before insurance companies prefer it at that price? How long before farming out your pregnancy becomes the social norm?
Let us hope that it does not, and that this service continues to be used only as a last resort for infertile couples who feel called to raise children.
Comments
I do not think you can
I do not think you can equate people who choose to have an elective c-section in the same category with people who choose surrogate births. Surrogacy is a whole completely different thing and it takes a lot for one to choose surrogacy. It does cost less EVERYWHERE to have a baby than in America. In fact in many countries, maternity is not covered by insurance because it is considered a natural happening and the couple choose to have a baby and thus it is not an illness so as to be covered by insurance. there is also another school of thought who think surrogacy is not Christian. they are definately not in the same category with a c-section and I do not see any thing wrong with someone electing to have a c-section. They are made aware of the consequences and if they choose to have their baby that way, I think that is their own choosing, just the same with people who choose to bottle feed. BTW, I chose neither of those :-)
Not the procedures, but the reasoning
There are many reasons that one would choose an elective (unnecessary) C-section, and many reasons one might choose to use a surrogate mother. Unfortunately some people have Cesarean sections simply because waiting for labor would be inconvenient for their schedule, or because they fear the birth experience. I believe that "I just don't want to experience/wait for a normal birth" is not a good reason to have a C-section.
The way I equate C-sections and surrogacy is that I can envision the same women who have elective C-sections to for that reason thinking along the same lines, "I don't want to experience [insert all the inconviences of pregnancy here] at all!" I believe that pregnancy and birth are as integral a part of parenting as teaching your child to (for instance) ride a bike, and though medical problems may occasionally prevent one or the other, I do not want to see them trivialized.
I know that C-sections and surrogacy are very different medically, and again there are many medical and non-medical reasons to choose either one. I don't suggest we try to regulate choices that should be left to each family, but I do hope that every individual is taught to respect pregnancy, parenthood, and all that comes with them.
Commodification of the body
The trend scares me but doesn't surprise me. Pregnacy is considered an inconvenice and if there are ways for folks to enjoy the rewards without any "trouble" they'll go for it.
I'll hope along with you that it doesn't come to that.
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