The well off of the world increasing exploit the body parts and functions of the destitute–and then, call it “choice.”
Gestational surrogacy–to use the industry’s dehumanizing term–is high on the list of abusive practices. I have written of the dire conditions some women in India face who are paid to carry babies. But apparently there is also trouble in Mexico and elsewhere.
A medical tourism company called Planet Hospital is in involuntary bankruptcy and alleged to have defrauded customers. From the New York Times story:
Jonathan C. Dailey, a lawyer in Washington, wired Planet Hospital $37,000 in December 2013, the first installment on a contract for a single mother in Mexico to carry his child. He and his fiancée flew to Cancún to leave a sperm deposit at the clinic that would create the embryo and to visit the downtown house where their surrogate would live while pregnant.
They picked a “premium” egg donor from the agency Planet Hospital sent them to. But nothing happened. “It was just outright fraud,” said Mr. Dailey. “It’s like we paid money to buy a condo, they took the money, and there was no condo. But it’s worse, because it’s about having a baby.”
I don’t think Mr. Dailey gets the irony: Babies are being purchased like lumber at Home Depot!
The problems went beyond paying for products and services not rendered:
She said Planet Hospital also engaged in unauthorized egg-splitting. In at least one case, Mr. Rupak admitted taking eggs harvested for one intended parent, and giving some to another to keep his costs down.
But people want what they want, and so the beat goes on:
Even with Mr. Rupak out of the Cancún surrogacy business, the demand for affordable surrogacy and the potential profits are such that all the former main players in Planet Hospital — its vice president, the head of the egg-donor agency it worked with, the woman in charge of the Cancún surrogate housing, and Ms. Moscarello, the client representative — are starting their own surrogacy businesses in Mexico.In fact, hundreds of new surrogacy businesses advertise their services on the Internet because anyone can establish an agency, regardless of background or expertise. Agencies are started and disappear, sometimes reappearing under a new name.
I am told repeatedly by grieving infertile people that they will do “anything” to have a child. That often includes exploiting others. But it sometimes means having “anything” done to them.
Adding to the tragedies: There are so many parentless children who need loving families! Adopt. Adopt. Adopt.
LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.
