Surrogacy

Right to Life of Northeast Indiana

Stance

Right to Life of Northeast Indiana (RLNI) opposes the practice of surrogacy. We recognize the natural desire of many adults to have children. Unlike adoption, however, surrogacy treats children as subjects of contract and purposefully separates them from the woman who carried them before birth. Human beings should never be bought, sold, rented, or treated as commodities.

What it is

An adult or couple who desires to have a child creates an agreement with a woman that she will carry a baby during pregnancy on their behalf and, upon birth, surrender the infant to them for them to raise as their own child.

Altruistic Surrogacy:

The adult(s) desiring a child approach someone they know or are related to with the prospect of carrying the child for them during pregnancy. This gestational/"surrogate" mother is not paid for the service itself but may receive funds to cover costs such as doctor’s visits, pregnancy supplies, and inconveniences.

Traditional Surrogacy:

Uses the gestational/"surrogate" mother’s egg and so relies on intrauterine insemination for fertilization. This method is not legal in contractual surrogacy in the United States.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF):

The process of conceiving children via intracytoplasmic injection of a sperm into an egg in a laboratory setting and introducing the babies to their mother’s uterus for implantation 3 to 5 days after conception or after a period of cryopreservation.

Core Moral Concern

Children born through surrogacy are intentionally separated from their mothers at birth, as stipulated in contracts drawn up before they are conceived. In adoption and foster care, we recognize that separation from parents is traumatic for children, yet surrogacy intentionally creates this separation. Because separation from mother is at the very core of surrogacy, surrogacy cannot exist without it. Children conceived through surrogacy may have as many as five parents: the egg "donor," sperm "donor," gestational/"surrogate" mother, social mother, and social father; yet human beings have a natural right to be raised by their biological parents. Likewise, parents have a natural right to raise their biological children. Pregnancy creates physiological and neurological bonds between mother and child that cannot be ignored. The desire to have a child does not create the right to a child by any means technology avails us. Surrogacy also often involves other unethical practices, including abortion and eugenics, and raises concerns about the exploitation of women, particularly those facing financial pressures. When viewed from the perspective of children's rights and the rights of gestational/"surrogate" mothers, surrogacy has no standing.

General Practice

Contractual surrogacy in the United States begins with IVF. Altruistic surrogacy can be “traditional surrogacy," where intrauterine insemination (IUI) is used and the baby conceived is the “surrogate” mother’s biological child. Traditional surrogacy is less often used because of the legal trouble caused by “surrogates” being a genetic parent of the child and therefore having claim to parental rights at birth. The case of Baby M (Melissa Stern) in 1986. [1]

Surrogacy typically costs between $50,000 to $150,000 depending on how many rounds of IVF you do and depending on who the commissioning parents choose as the egg "donor," sperm "donor," and "surrogate." [2]

Surrogacy is only strictly prohibited in three of the United States: Louisiana, Michigan, and Nebraska. [3]

Fact Sheet

Access and download our educational fact sheet for more detailed study and distribution.

Download Surrogacy Fact Sheet (PDF)

References

Questions or want to learn more? Contact us.
rlni@ichooselife.org | (260) 471-1849