Research On The Surrogate Problems In The Perspective Of Human Dignity

With the development and progress of society, as well as the rapid progress inmedical technology, surrogacy emerged from assisted reproductive technology. To acertain extent, the presence of surrogacy solves the problem of infertile couples. At thesame time, however, because the surrogate introduces a third person to a normal maritalrelationship, it can easily result in disputes among the surrogate mother, thecommissioning couple, and the children. It thus triggers a series of ethnic controversiessuch as the changes in traditional family patterns, parent-child relationshipdetermination, the commercialization of the surrogate mother’s womb etc. The core ofthese ethical issues lies in the relationship between surrogacy and human dignity. In theprocess of surrogacy, if the surrogate mothers give birth purely for money and viewthemselves entirely as a tool, then where is the dignity? If a surrogate mother do itpurely to help infertile families to have children, then should her behavior be promoted?Also, will there be effective protection to the surrogate mother’s right of selection, andthe reproductive rights of the commissioning couple during the surrogacy process? Inthe controversy associated with surrogacy, both proponents and opponents willintroduce human dignity as its theoretical foundation.In this article, based on the analysis of human dignity, and follow its trajectory ofdevelopment, we investigate the relationship among commercial surrogacy, altruisticsurrogacy and human dignity. Through the analysis, we point out that the commercialsurrogacy is contrary to the human dignity, and should be banned totally. On the otherhand, the altruistic surrogacy is able to meet the aspirations of infertile couples to havechildren without violating the human dignity, so that the reproductive rights areachieved. Therefore it should not be prohibited. In the end, we examined the currentlegislation of total ban on surrogacy in China. We suggest appropriate lift of therestriction on Surrogacy, the establishment of appropriate ethical oversight bodies onsurrogacy, so as to ensure the realization of reproductive rights infertility patients.