Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnancy is medically impossible, when pregnancy risks are dangerous for the intended mother, or when a single man or a male couple wish to have a child. Surrogacy is considered one of many assisted reproductive technologies. In surrogacy arrangements, monetary compensation may or may not be involved. Receiving money for the arrangement is known as commercial surrogacy. The legality and cost of surrogacy varies widely between jurisdictions, sometimes resulting in problematic international or interstate surrogacy arrangements. Couples seeking a surrogacy arrangement in a country where it is banned sometimes travel to a jurisdiction that permits it. In some countries, surrogacy is legal only if money does not exchange hands.

This book examines the effect on domestic and international law, and on human rights law and theory, of the impact of the sharp increase in the use of surrogacy. Featuring a wide range of views from academics and practitioners around the world, the contributors present critical analysis of the current regulation of surrogacy and consider what could be done to further protect the rights of all persons involved in surrogacy arrangements.

This essential Research Handbook provides a multifaceted exploration of surrogacy and the law, examining a variety of critical yet under-researched perspectives including globalisation, power, gender, sexual orientation, genetics, human rights and family relations. It covers four distinct topics: surrogacy and rights, the interplay between surrogacy and different areas of the law, cross-border aspects, and regional perspectives.

"... glimpses of intriguing changes in social arrangements and cultural understandings in relation to surrogacy. Disturbing motherhood indeed." -- New Scientist "Larry Gostin has put together the definitive collection of essays on one of the most perplexing and titillating topics in contemporary medical ethics. This book includes contributions from some of the leading scholars on the legal, ethical, and social aspects of surrogacy, as well as several critical perspectives on the famous Baby M case -- must reading for understanding the surrogate motherhood controversy." -- Robert M. Veatch "Highly recommended... " -- Choice "... a valuable resource for those concerned with an exceedingly difficult ethical, legal, and political problem."Â -- Ethics "There is a wealth of information here on the current 'status questionis' in the United States, and anyone involved in the surrogacy debate, in the U.S. or otherwise, will find working through this material very worthwhile." -- Canadian Philosophical Review "... an excellent sample of some of the best and most varied thinking so far on the numerous conceptual, moral, social, and policy questions raised by contract motherhood." -- The Journal of Clinical Ethics

This book is an essential guide on surrogacy, discussing various legal issues that arise in surrogacy cases. It provides a comprehensive coverage to various issues pertaining to surrogacy arrangements due to failure to meet the needs of those involved in surrogacy, be it the intended parents or the surrogate mother, with special emphasis on the most vulnerable party -- the surrogate child. In the wake of this existing imbalance, the call to reform the practice of surrogacy has also increased. The book provides a comprehensive coverage to various laws and policy regulations in existence dealing with surrogacy, and unravels the latest trends and developments happening around the world as surrogacy gains importance. The international perspectives highlight policies and practices being adopted and followed by various nations with regard to surrogacy regulation and associated parenthood rules. This book also analyses some of the significant cross-border disputes revolving around surrogacy, and explores briefly the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on matters of parentage and citizenship for children born of trans-national surrogacy with special reference to the prospects of a convention on international surrogacy currently being studied by The Hague Conference on Private International Law. Further, it highlights the issues and questions relating to surrogacy arrangements that are so far unresolved and unanswered and suggests measures for improvements to the existing proposed surrogacy legislation in India and need for uniform international regulation. The book is a great resource for legal practitioners, academics, students, policy-makers, infertility clinics, and charitable organizations working on this issue.

With an Expanded Appendix on the Current Legal Status of Surrogacy Arrangements A practice known since Biblical times, surrogate motherhood has only recently leaped to prominence as a way of providing babies for childless couples—and leaped to notoriety through the dramatic case of Baby M. Contract surrogacy is officially little more than ten years old, but by 1986 five hundred babies had been born to mothers who gave them up to sperm donor fathers for a fee, and the practice is growing rapidly. Martha Field examines the myriad legal complexities that today enmesh surrogate motherhood, and also looks beyond existing legal rules to ask what society wants from surrogacy. A man’s desire to be a “biological” parent even when his wife is infertile—the father’s wife usually adopts the child—has led to this new kind of family, and modern technology could further extend surrogacy’s appeal by making gestational surrogates available to couples who provide both egg and sperm. But is surrogacy a form of babyselling? Is the practice a private matter covered by contract law, or does adoption law govern? Is it good or bad social and public policy to leave surrogacy unregulated? Should the law allow, encourage, discourage, or prohibit surrogate motherhood? Ultimately the answers will depend on what the American public wants. In the difficult process of sorting out such vexing questions, Martha Field has written a landmark book. Showing that the problem is rather too much applicable law than too little, she discusses contract law and constitutional law, custody and adoption law, and the rights of biological fathers as well as the laws governing sperm donation. Competing values are involved all along the legal and social spectrum. Field suggests that a federal prohibition would be most effective if banning surrogacy is the aim, but federal prohibition might not be chosen for a variety of reasons: a preference for regulating surrogacy instead of driving it underground; a preference for allowing regulation and variation by state; or a respect for the interests of people who want to enter surrogacy arrangements. Since the law can support a wide variety of positions, Field offers one that seems best to reconcile the competing values at stake. Whether or not paid surrogacy is made illegal, she suggests that a surrogate mother retain the option of abiding by or canceling the contract up to the time she freely gives the child to the adopting couple. And if she cancels the contract, she should be entitled to custody without having to prove in court that she would be a better parent than the father.