Surrogate Motherhood and Feminism

In her analysis of the issues surrounding the practice of surrogate motherhood, Susan Sherwin begins with what she calls the "feminist assumption" that systemic forms of oppression exist in our society. She defines oppression as a form of injustice characterized by exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence directed at an identifiable social group. She also adds, however, that oppression does not require malevolent intention to be effective; she states that the term also "refers to the vast and deep injustices some groups suffer as a consequence of often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary interactions, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms -- in short, the normal processes of everyday life."

Sherwin will conclude her analysis by stating that in "the current social and historical moment, feminists should resist any form of regulation of contractual pregnancies other than prohibition." The basis for this argument is her belief that the systemic oppression of women in our society is only further compromised by the reduction of women to purely biological roles that inevitably occurs in the surrogate relationship. The birth mother is reduced to nothing more than a womb and the caregiver mother is reduced to the traditional role she has always been allowed to play by the men who continu

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t women have been unjustifiably prevented from making choices about their reproductive lives. Historically, the argument has been that women's primary purpose is the function of reproduction and any decision that hinders this function operates in opposition to a woman's true role in society. Feminists hold this historical position to be unjustifiable because it reduces women's importance to their ability to procreate and removes from them the power to make decisions about their desire to become and remain pregnant. Thus, feminists who advocate a ban on the practice of surrogate motherhood would appear to be making these decisions for women just as men have historically done. Feminists such as Christine Overall respond to the argument that the choice to participate in the practice of surrogate motherhood represents an exercise of free choice by women by asking the question "For whom are surrogates working?" Overall argues that one answer to the question is provided by Susan Ince. In an investigation of the operation of a surrogate motherhood broker, Ince found that the infertile wife, who is the raison d'etre of the surrogate industry, is "notably absent" from the surrogate motherhood relationship. For example, the compa
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3531
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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