The world is made of clustered tribes and communities with difference in perspectives based on cultural beliefs or religious background. Every human ideology of the world is backed by their opinion of what they believe the world should be, which is deeply rooted in cultural beliefs. Despite our cultural background and understanding of the world, the world is evolving. Which means our traditional means of getting things done might not necessarily apply to this present era. At every point of human's evolution, it occurs in order to provide solutions to specific problems in our society.
As the apex species on earth, we humans have gone through great lengths to ensure our survival, some of these ways might not conform with our beliefs. One of this instance is the introduction of surrogacy. It was something that was never heard of in our society, probably because we never felt the need for it but as some problems kept erupting concerning childbirth and with the right technological tools, we find ourselves going far and beyond our natural ways of doing things, to combat with new arising issues.
What exactly is surrogacy? It is the legal agreement between a surrogate mother and the intended parents, an agreement that involves a person carrying pregnancy and going through childbirth on behalf of another person. The person carrying this pregnancy is known as the surrogate mother, while the person this child will be given to after child birth is the intended parents. This practice is far different from adoption in the sense that the child is planted in the surrogate mother and her duty is just to carry the pregnancy and childbirth on behalf of the parents of the child. Quite a tricky exercise, this is one of the reasons science feels creepy to me sometimes.
Based on how the exercise is carried out, it is quite obvious that it is different from the traditional way of childbirth that is known to everyone, a process that involves the parent of a child carrying the pregnancy themselves and giving birth to the child. But when you think of it, not everyone is privileged to have what it takes to carry a pregnancy, not to talk of childbirth. There are some health issues that have prevented some women from being able to carry out this task. Due to this, they find themselves opting for nearest solution and the cost of the procedure is not cheap.
From this point of view, it feels understandable why people will want to opt for surrogacy as a means of providing solution to their child birth issue. Looking at this,Will I be willing to opt for surrogacy? I do hope it never comes to that because it is a solution that is often considered as a last option for child birth. It is not something a couple just wake up one morning and suddenly feels like opting for surrogacy for pleasure, it is a process birthed by desperation for child birth. So I'm not against the idea but I do not wish for it.
Is it unethical? This is where it becomes complex, somethings might be scientifically right doesn't mean it is ethical. Like I explained earlier, we humans tends to cling to specific things as a way of protecting our traditional way of doing things. We tend to wage ethical war against things that seems unusual and unknown to us. Believing surrogacy is ethical or not is based on individual perspective. But there is something I would love to point out, before the process becomes public, it must have passed through science ethical committee. This is a board created by scientists to ensure their research endeavours does not cross some boundaries.
Before it can become accepted, I'm sure the science ethics committee must have analysed it before approving it. Though their acceptance of the procedure doesn't necessarily mean the world will accept it like they do. So it is left to each individual to do what works for them without criticizing a procedure that seems to be the only hope for some people to have a child of their own. If you believe in the traditional way of giving birth, it is fine. I see no reason why one procedure should be abandoned for the other, both procedure plays different roles.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Surrogacy" in hive learners community.
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