Outsourced Wombs

There is an interesting article in the NYT today about women, mostly from America, heading to India to hire surrogates to bear their children.

Am I supposed to be upset at wealthy westerners, getting the surrogacy deal of a lifetime? Do I think that they are crazy pursuing this perfected dream of reproductive motherhood? You know - those types.. they have conquered the business world so they will conquer their wombs? Excpet they are definately not conquering their wombs, they are renting space in another. But is it just for reproductive issues? What happens when a busy, wealthy woman (or couple) want a baby, but are too busy to go through the hassle of pregnancy? Is this type of surrogacy another option?

And for the women who are surrogates - are they being taken advantage of? Are their lives now controlled by these western women for whom they bear a child? What rights do they have? What if they decide they want to parent the child they bear - especially if they donate an egg? But are they just mindless wombs for rent? Or is this a fantatsic ticket out of abject poverty for them? I have to admit, if someone offered me a million or so (10-15 years salary) to bear a child for them, I'd be all over it. Why not? It could open new financial doors that weren't open before.

What really has me concerned is if these women are protected who are providing surrogacy options, what the international laws are regarding children born through surrogacy, and what happens when wombs are now rental options, like a storage unit or a cabin in upstate NY. I think I need more time to ponder this one. This is one aspect of outsourcing I did not expect.