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The different views and opinions on surrogate motherhood are as vast as those on abortion. Everyone has their views and ideas of the social and ethical issues related to surrogate motherhood. Let's look into some of these issues and what the different sides think about it all. Is it morally correct to rent your body? Some would argue that renting your body to have a baby is hand in hand with renting it out for sex. You are being paid for the use of your body. On the other side, pro surrogates would say that this is an unfair comparison, as sex for money is seen to be dirty and having a baby to help someone who can't is a pure thing. What does religion say about the ethics of surrogate motherhood? Roman Catholicism and Islam forbid it. The Roman Catholics refer to the story of Sarah, wife of Abraham, in the bible. She was barren and gave her maid Hagar to her husband so that she could bare them a child. Abraham impregnated her through copulation. In the end Sarah got jealous, Hagar didn't want to give the baby up and she and the child were thrown out. Not a good ending. In Islam the belief is simple; a woman should bare only her husband's children. How does being born from a surrogate mother affect the child when it grows up? What does a person say when asked, who is your mother? Some people argue that being born from another woman can confuse a child and cause it to have issues as an adult; have feelings of confusion on the subject. The pro surrogates will say that there are many stories of successful children born of surrogate mothers that don't have these problems. It is simply explained to the child. The parents were unable to have children so they took each part of the child from the parents and put it in a surrogate to be born. Can a surrogate mother truly consent to the taking of the child after it is born? This is a major issue. Before gestational surrogating, it was only through artificial insemination of the father's sperm that a surro

Surrogacy is perhaps one of the most selfless acts that a woman can bestow upon a couple in need of a child. Surrogacy, however, can come with both physical and physiological risks that may or may not be easy to recover from. Understanding what the psychological risks of surrogate motherhood can make the transition from carrying a child to relinquishing that child easier. The psychological risks of surrogate motherhood may be a heavier burden to carry, but pre-screening and on-going counseling both before and after the event can help surrogate mothers adjust. There are four areas that are of particular interest in the psychological aspect of surrogacy: contact (bonds), control, closure and ethics. Surrogate mothers form relationships with the couples they surrogate for and that bond may perhaps be even stronger than the bond they may feel for the child they are carrying. They see and talk to their couples regularly and become used to the caring bestowed upon them from their couples. These bonds are strengthened by the routine prenatal visits, maternity clothes shopping, calls to see how they are feeling or if they need anything for comfort. These routine events cause them to become almost dependent on their couples and some surrogates report even becoming depressed after the birth not because of having to relinquish the child, but because they no longer have a reason for contact with their couples. Another one of the psychological risks of surrogate motherhood is that of closure. Often, this can go hand in hand with every contact or bonding issues. The routines and relationships developed between the surrogate, couples and medical staff that often make the transition from pregnancy and surrogacy to the birth and farewell stage that makes it difficult. Not only does the surrogate have to deal with the loss of a child, per se, but also the loss of those unique and caring relationships and routines that they have grown used to over the previous nine months. And fina

Surrogacy itself calls up a lot of moral and ethical concerns, mostly because of the money that is involved. Also the fact that a childless couple are asking, sometimes, a complete stranger to become pregnant for them and then give them the child after the birth. Depending on the infertility problems of the intended couple, the surrogate mother will become pregnant in some very different ways. Firstly there is the traditional method, which is where the intended fathers sperm is used to artificially inseminate the surrogate mother. This is using the surrogate mothers egg, so she will be the legal and the biological mother which may cause some people problems, ethically and morally. Then we have where both of the intended parents are infertile, so a sperm donor is used to make the surrogate mother pregnant, and thirdly we have the gestational surrogate method. This is where the intended mothers egg is fertilized with the intended fathers sperm in a laboratory and then it is placed into the surrogate mother to grow until ready for birth. This method is used because the intended mother either can not carry a baby full term, has had a part hysterectomy, or has other medical reasons that prevent her from becoming pregnant. In the majority of these cases, the surrogate mother will be giving this service due to altruistic reasoning. She will still receive reimbursement for her and her family for any out of pocket expenses she may incur in the 9 months while she is carrying the child'. This amount of money is called the base fee. This is an amount of money that is usually split up into 9 monthly payments. The amounts are never equal in their amounts because of the fact that a miscarriage is more likely in the first three months than at any other time during the pregnancy. So, understandably, the first couple of payments will be less than offered later in the pregnancy so that the intended parents will not have to pay too much for a failed pregnancy but the surrogate mother

There are pros and cons to both sides of this argument. With the private arrangement, you will first of all need to find your surrogate mother. This is usually much easier done through an agency, as all surrogate mothers to be will have been screened and will have gone through a comprehensive health screening. Also, all of the surrogate mothers with an agency will have had psychological screenings to guarantee the fact that they will be able to deal with the very strong emotions that will be coursing around their bodies during the pregnancy. Unless, of course, your surrogate mother is a relative or close friend of the family in which case it would seem to be a lot easier. Ethics, moral code and emotions will still loom large in all of the concerned parties worlds. So it would still be wise to involve an attorney and legal contracts so that everyone knows exactly where they stand, and what is expected of them. In most countries and states legal and binding contracts written up by attorneys, are needed by the parents to be anyway. As they are going to have to be legally adopting the child everything, will need to be written clearly and legally about the birth and how it came about. Very often during the pregnancy the doctors and nurses will need to know why there are two women, one pregnant, the other not, and very often two fathers who are so interested in this one child. If you have gone through an agency, they will be able to advise you on what to do and say in this situation. If you are sorting out surrogacy arrangements privately then yes but if anything unexpected should happen and you are unable to deal with the problems there is a reasonable chance you will end up wishing you had gone to the agency. Agencies do have trained professionals that can help you with all of the different issues that are involved in surrogacy. From the emotional feeling of all parties, the majority of agencies will have counselors who can help you work your way through any difficul