3/26/08

Womb for Sale

Yesterday I read an article posted on the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood blog. It was titled, "Is a Woman Just a Womb for Hire?" It brought up an issue that I've never given much thought, surrogate pregnancy. I have always viewed it as a very selfless act. However, it is being used as a business in India. Couples who cannot afford to hire a surrogate in the states are going to where it's cheap, and that is India.
While I think this is kind of weird and sad for the poor girl who has to carry the child, I'm not sure that I would call it "dishonor" or a "horror." In fact, I'm not quite sure what I think of it. Something inside of me tells me that surrogacy used this way is wrong. I can't exactly say why. It seems a little like prostitution of the womb. However, is all surrogacy wrong? If someone who knows you offers to carry your child out of love, is this a dishonor to God? I do not know. I want to know.

3 comments:

B. Kyle said...

That's a tough question, I think. I'm not quite sure where I stand.

Shannon Leigh Anderson said...

I heard this story on the news not too long ago. I had thought about posting about it... but I too am not EXACTLY sure how I feel about it. My initial thought... Just adopt a child from India instead of "renting out" a womb. But then I thought about it some more... and God has used soooooo many people who have come from unlikely beginnings. And to a mother who feels that she must have her "own child" who am I to say she shouldn't. But thanks for bringing this up!

Alisha said...

I think of how Rachel & Leah used their servants' wombs in order to give children to Jacob when their own wombs were closed... Of course God used that to build a nation, but the whole situation was sinful...

Using servants and concubines to provide children when the wife could not is the closest thing to surrogacy in the Bible that I can think of. The situations usually, if not always, ended in jealousy (I also think of Sarai & Hagar).

Of course, those "surrogates" in the Bible were women the wives had to see on a daily basis which probably multiplied the jealousy. As of right now, I can't say that womb rental is wrong, but it definitely makes me feel very uneasy...

As a friend told me, children are just one of the blessings from God, not THE blessing. We have to find our value in Christ, not in our ability to have children.