Should surrogacy be legal?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should surrogacy be legal?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, surrogacy should be legal.
Argument‹2 of 4›: Surrogacy is a practical solution

If we do not legalise surrogacy, people will do it in poorer countries where women are exploited. Currently, a large amount of surrogacy happens overseas in developing nations due to restrictive surrogacy laws in Western countries.

The argument

Currently, a large amount of surrogacy happens overseas in developing nations due to restrictive surrogacy laws in Western countries. For instance, more than 25,000 children are now born to surrogate mothers in India each year. These women are often kept in undesirable conditions while pregnant. By introducing restrictive laws on surrogates, prospective couples or individuals looking to have children through surrogacy are driven to find surrogates overseas. This boosts the surrogacy economy in countries like India, which boast large amounts of surrogate births for Westerners with questionable conditions for surrogates themselves. By legalising surrogacy, we are able to ensure surrogates are given rights and are not working under exploitative circumstances.

Premises

[P1]Restrictive Western surrogacy laws drive prospective parents to developing nations like India, where over 25,000 surrogate births occur yearly under often exploitative, undesirable conditions. [P2] Legalising surrogacy at home would let it be regulated so surrogates are given rights and protected from exploitation rather than pushed into questionable overseas arrangements. [C] Therefore, because it is a practical solution that protects surrogates, surrogacy should be legal.

Counter-arguments

Legalising surrogacy in Western countries would not stop the exploitative conditions of surrogate mothers overseas. Surrogate services in developing countries would remain cheaper than in Western countries and people would still use them. Additionally, legalising surrogacy would then move the exploitation closer to home, opening up opportunities for women in Western countries to also be exploited as those in developing countries are.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Legalising surrogacy would still mean women are being exploited - it would just be women domestically who are exploited.