The problem is that the discussion mainly revolves around the maximum payment. It has been found that coercion through high wages is possible in places where financial inequality is extreme and lack of support for the very poor, but even in these situations it would actually be more exploitative to pay them less. In the Netherlands, social programmes are adequate and the framework conditions relatively fair. If we accept surrogacy as a legitimate form of work, in accordance with the professional model proposed by (van Zyl and Walker 2013), then a minimum wage must be respected. Despite its many problems, surrogacy also has several advantages. It allows thousands of people to realize their dream of becoming parents and helps many surrogates earn money and improve their living conditions. Technological progress necessitates regulation. The case of pregnancy regulation is one of them. Do you think commercial surrogacy should be legalized and regulated? Surrogacy refers to a contract in which a woman carries a pregnancy « for » another couple.
The number of infertile couples from around the world is approaching India, where commercial surrogacy is legal. While this regulation appears to be beneficial to all parties involved, there are some sensitive issues that need to be addressed through carefully drafted laws to protect the rights of surrogate and intended parents. It is argued that paying women for surrogacy is exploitation. In the case of exploitation, a surrogate mother is used as an unfair means or under certain conditions, so that the surrogate mother does not consent (at least not validly) (Wertheimer 1992). For a surrogate mother to be unfairly used as a means, the impact on her well-being must be more negative than the justice system allows, which could mean that the surrogate mother is harmed or does not benefit enough (Wilkinson 2003). Obviously, harm to the surrogate is not the issue in this argument, since altruistic surrogacy is still considered acceptable. Second, the surrogate can be misused as a means if she is underpaid, which would happen if the physical and psychological risks to the surrogate are not properly compensated in proportion to the benefit to the intended parents. This would mean that the exploitative argument actually favors commercial surrogacy and higher payments to surrogates compared to altruistic surrogacy. But even with commercial surrogacy, exploitation can occur through underpayment.
In India, the altruistic motivations and maternal duties of surrogacy brokers have been constantly repeated by surrogacy brokers to intimidate them, not demanding higher payments, or voicing concerns (Dabriak et al. 2007; Gupta, 2012; Pande, 2010). There was unequal bargaining power between the wealthiest intended parents and the poor (and sometimes uneducated) surrogate mother (Lee 2009). Surrogacy contracts involved cross-border clients and Indian slum dwellers, resulting in extreme polarization (Timms 2018). Regulations requiring sufficient and fair payments to surrogate mothers would solve this problem. Those advocating the elimination of this freedom through international laws prohibiting surrogacy because of risks to the well-being and personal health of surrogacy face arguments that other forms of employment available to women in these situations may actually be more harmful and abusive.23 Even if one cannot compare the risks of a safe pregnancy, We must try to compare it with the dangers of the alternative workplace or living in absolute poverty. It would be paternalistic and derogatory to claim that well-informed women, regardless of economic status, are unable to make a rational decision on this issue – risking their lives for money.19 Freeman points out that women have long taken risks to their health during pregnancy, especially since obstetric care was less developed.24 Let`s comment on the risks, Giving birth to a child only now when financial gain is mentioned? As we have discussed, there is a form of exploitation that occurs when surrogates are forced by their desperate financial situation to become surrogates. It was noted that this is not a problem of surrogacy, but a problem with an unequal society (and therefore global inequalities).
One reality in India is that inequality is racially stratified and people (especially women) with dark skin or belonging to « lower » castes are systematically disadvantaged (Singh 2014). The tendency to outsource labor to poor countries occurs along racial and class lines, perpetuating these differences globally. International commercial surrogacy continues to be closely linked to unfair and racist substantive conditions around the world, and this is not resolved by the regulation of payments or surrogacy itself. Viewing surrogacy as a giving relationship can also « obscure or at least distract from the fact that the [surrogate] makes a number of commitments to the intended parents and the [fetus] » (Van Zyl & Walker, 2013, p. 2).