Surrogate mother Introduction Teddy, a 48-year-old bachelor who lives in Hong Kong, he has always wanted to have his

own children. He has intention of having children by a surrogate mother. As one of his friends, my point of view is against him on the use of a surrogate mother. In the following, I would explain my view on legal and ethical grounds.

Definition of surrogate mother Surrogacy is the practice whereby one woman (the surrogate mother) carries a child for another person(s) (the commissioning couple) as the result of an agreement prior to conception that the child should be handed over to that person after birth (Brazier et. al, 1997). The term `surrogate mother' or `surrogate' is usually applied to the woman who carries and delivers a child on behalf of another couple (Brinsden, 2003).

There are two basic types of surrogacy. Gestational Surrogacy which is the client family creates embryos via the In Vitro Fertilization process (US Legal, Inc). The intended fathers sperm and the intended mothers eggs are utilized to create the embryos and finally implanted into the uterus of the surrogate mother. The surrogate mother has no genetic relationship to the child

and carries the child on behalf of the client family. The client family, with the assistance of an attorney, petitions the court to issue the birth certificate reflecting the client couple as legal parents (US Legal, Inc).

Traditional Surrogacy (Artificial Insemination Surrogacy) which is the surrogate mother is inseminated with the sperm of the intended father (US Legal, Inc. The child born for the intended couple is genetically related to the intended father and is biological child of the surrogate mother. The client family completes a step-parent adoption process and the client wife becomes the legal mother of the baby (US Legal, Inc).

Legal perspective In Hong Kong, surrogacy arrangement is the foremost issue among the surrogacy law. Under s 14 of the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance (Cap 561), without prejudice to the operation of the Parent and Child Ordinance (Cap 429), no person shall, for the purposes of a surrogacy arrangement, use gametes other than the gametes of two persons who are the parties to a marriage; and the person who is defined as "surrogate mother" in law so far as that arrangement is concerned. It can be seen that only infertile couple can make surrogate arrangement, but not for the single or homosexual. Therefore, Teddy has no rights to have his child by a surrogate mother.

Pursuant to s 13 of the Human Reproductive Technology (licensing) Regulation (Cap 561A), if any surrogacy arrangement is authorized by the licence, a reproductive technology procedure may be provided pursuant to such arrangement only if the gametes used in the procedure are those of the parties to a marriage; and the wife in that marriage is unable to carry a pregnancy to term and no other treatment option is practicable for her. As Teddy is a bachelor, if he wants to have his child by a surrogate mother, it is offending the law. Moreover, under s 17 of the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance (Cap 561), no person shall whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, make or receive any payment for initiating or taking part in any negotiations

with a view to the making of a surrogacy arrangement; offering or agreeing to negotiate the making of a surrogacy arrangement; or compiling any information with a view to its use in making, or negotiating the making of, surrogacy arrangements. Having a child by a surrogate mother always involve signing contract and money transaction, in this case Teddy is offending the law.

Social issue For tradition Chinese, there is a saying There are three ways to be unfilial; having no sons is the worst. ( ) citation from Mencius (), which can tell how significant for one family to have offspring. If a wife was failed to give birth to any sons, it is common for man to marry a concubine to play the role of giving birth. Concubines may somehow regard as the old surrogate mother, but indeed they are different. For concubines, they married with the man and had social status in the family, but not in the case of surrogate mother. Moreover, although surrogate mother may contribute in genetics, but a mother is far beyond that. Chinese believe that mother plays an important role in raising offspring and acts as a care giver, so a complete family is needed. In the case of Teddy, although he can fulfil to have a son to carry on the family name ( ), he will give raise to a single parent family which greatly damages the traditional family structure.

Secondly, surrogate mother is regarded as an occupation as to earn a livelihood by utilizing the natural physiological structure. It seems that there are no differences between a prostitute and a surrogate mother, as their work is to provide an organ for men. This leads to a loss of cognitive, noble moral integrity and dignity. In this case,

female has just become a functional machine for giving birth which violates the value of women and even value of human.

By surrogacy, baby could somehow become a tool to satisfy the wishes of particular group of people, such as Teddy. The value of baby could no longer be the product of love but just a tool for genetic transmission. As the couple or the man can choose the best gene for the embryo, eugenics is a further consequence of surrogacy which is a hot issue of deciding live or death by human.

Consequence-based approach (Utilitarianism) Utilitarianism holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Utilitarianism). I would like to use this approach to compare the happiness between using surrogacy and not using surrogacy.

For Teddy uses surrogate mother service, he can satisfy his intention of being a father and have a genetically good child; for not using the surrogacy, Teddy will not burden the public pressure by his family, friends, and colleague; can save more money and obey the Hong Kong law. In this case, not using surrogacy can cause more happiness to Teddy.

To the surrogate mother, she can receive payment when Teddy using the surrogate mother service. For not using the service, this can prevent her from the complications of giving birth, violation of value of women and even the discrimination by the public. Therefore, not using surrogate mother service can bring more happiness to surrogate mother.

For the child, he/she can have better genes by using surrogacy. By not using surrogacy, this can prevent the child from facing no maternal love and discriminating by others. Besides, growing in a single parent family may affect the character and thinking of the child. In this case, not using surrogacy can cause more happiness to the child.

From the consequence-based approach, actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness. By comparing the happiness of using surrogacy and not using surrogacy, it can be seen that not using surrogacy cause more happiness to Teddy, surrogate mother and even the unborn child.

Virtue ethics Virtue ethics is person rather than action based: it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of particular actions (British Broadcasting Corporation). In that way, virtue ethics is concerned with the whole of a person's life, rather than particular episodes or actions (British Broadcasting Corporation).

For the surrogate mother, she is willing to sacrifice to provide the surrogate mother service in order to fulfil the wishes of the couple or the men. However, surrogacy involve signing contract and money transaction, it can be seen that surrogate mother are money-oriented as she can maintain her livelihood by doing other jobs instead of betraying her own body.

For the men as Teddy, he can fulfil filial piety when using surrogacy as the traditional Chinese saying There are three ways to be unfilial; having no sons is the worst. ( ). However, character of money dominance can be seen, they just believe that money can fulfil all their wishes, including having a child. Besides, treating women as a functional machine for giving birth, they are disrespectful to women. They only want to fulfil their wish of having a child, but ignore the social problems faced by the child in future, it can be seen that they are selfish.

Conclusion From the above, I have explained all the pros and cons of using surrogacy to Teddy. I would like to encourage him to give up the intention of having child by a surrogate mother and suggest other alternative measure to him. As he would like to have his child, he can join the child sponsorship of the World Vision. For the sponsorship, he can help the child to have a better livelihood and learning opportunity. He can communicate with the child by letter, it seems that he can play the role as a father.

Reference Brazier, M., Golombok, S. & Campbell, A. (1997) Surrogacy. Review for the UK Health Ministers of Current Arrangements for Payments and Regulation. Consultation Document and Questionnaire. Department of Health, London

Brinsden, P. R. (2003). Gestational surrogacy. Human Reproduction Update, 9 (5), 483-491.

British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC- Ethics-Introduction to ethics: Virtue ethics . Retrieved April 22, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/virtue.shtml

US Legal, Inc. Surrogate Mother Law & Legal Definition. Retrieved April 22, 2011 from http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/surrogate-mother/