Increasing concerns surrounding surrogacy
University of Huddersfield |
UK researchers have sounded warnings about the international
dimension to surrogacy. Couples seeking to build a family, and surrogate
mothers overseas who help them, are in danger of emotional, physical and
financial exploitation unless UK authorities monitor and regulate the field
much more closely, according to a University of Huddersfield professor who has
published the results of a detailed investigation. Eric Blyth – Professor of
Social Work at the University of Huddersfield, and based at its Centre for
Applied Childhood Studies – is co-author of The changing face of surrogacy in the UK, an
article which charts the rapid increase in the numbers of surrogate births over
the past six years. It warns that as surrogacy becomes more socially
acceptable, there is a risk that more people will make informal arrangements
that lack professional back-up.
“Without well-informed professionals, including child welfare
and health professionals, there is a potential danger of parties being poorly
informed and inadequately supported both during the surrogacy process itself
and the years ahead,” writes Professor Blyth and his co-authors Dr Marilyn
Crawshaw (University of York) and Professor Olga van den Akker (Middlesex
University) in the article, which appears in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.
Since
1990, a UK couple wishing to become the legal parents of a child born to a
surrogate mother must apply for a parental order. Initially this was restricted
to married couples. In 2008, the rules were broadened so that same-sex
couples were given the right to legal parentage following assisted-conception
and surrogacy.
These
wider criteria could help account for a big leap in the number of Parental
Orders in England and Wales. From 1995 to 2007 they remained fairly
steady, at between 36 and 52 a year. But in 2009 they climbed to 75 and
in 2011 they stood at 149.
Surrogacy
agencies had become established in the UK, but in recent years they have been
involved in a smaller proportion of surrogacy arrangements.
“This
is of some concern because agencies typically remain involved with the parties
throughout the pregnancy and offer ongoing support,” argues the article.
A reduction in this could be disadvantageous for the parents, surrogates
and the children affected.
The
article’s strongest warnings are in connection with overseas surrogacy
arrangements. The global situation needs to be monitored in order to
minimise the risk of exploitative developments, argue the authors.
“Such
developments could include financial risk to the adults concerned, physical and
emotional risk to both adults and children concerned and failure to afford due
dignity and attention to the children and to the formation of family life.
There are already some worrying indications that overseas arrangements
may pose such risks.”
The article
cites episodes already exposed in the media such as a ‘surrogacy ring’ in
Thailand in which 13 Vietnamese women had been trafficked for the purpose of
acting as surrogates. And there have recent concerns that Indian women
are also being exploited as surrogates.
The
numbers of children born in India to UK commissioning parents could be
considerably higher than the number of parental orders applied for, states the
article. And the economic disparity between surrogates and commissioning
couples also leads to fears of a market in babies.
Although
calls were made ten years ago for closer monitoring and regulation of surrogacy
arrangements – paying special heed to the potential for financial and
other forms of exploitation – the study reveals that there are still
insufficient data.
The
authors conclude that the steep increase in the number of Parental Orders since
2008 means that there is a need for better systems of monitoring, recording and
scrutiny, adding that: “The apparent increase in overseas arrangements that do
not result in applications for parental orders is a matter of considerable
concern.”
Source: University
of Huddersfield
Leave Your Comments!
Share What’s Going on
in your brain about the Topic. We need Your Response . Feel free to leave comments!
Posted by Unknown
on Saturday, January 19, 2013.
Filed under
Strange Science
.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0