surrogacy

[ken777]

A Christian friend of my family gave birth to the child of her brother & his wife. I was opposed to surrogacy before this but feel less adamant now.

I was surprised when discussing this with my daughter (who is a mother but not a Christian and has quite liberal views) to find she is opposed to surrogacy. Her argument was basically that the birth mother cannot make an informed decision before the process is commenced as she may feel very different after delivery.

As well as the ethical questions, I wonder if there is a Biblical argument about the morality of this issue.

 

[Dave-W]

I would say there is - in the OT we have several examples. The first one is Sarah having Hagar be a surrogate mother for herself and then 2 generations later we see the wives of Jacob (Leah and Rachel) do the exact same thing with their maids Zilpah and Bilhah. There seems to be no moral argument against it in these cases. It is never condemned, even in the NT.

Gen 30.2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" 3 She said, "Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children." 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan.

 

[EarthFae]

Yes, it was in the Old Testament...and really there is nothing Bibical against it, but also nothing Bibical supporting it. It doesn't seem God really looked fondly upon Jacob's wives competing and it lead to quite a bit of problems...to say the least. Even though Rachel said God vindicated her, that was her talking not God.

But I am against it. Basically if you can't have a child on your own (Baring fertility drugs) then you should adopt. You are putting a woman at risk by doing this. Having and carrying a child is not a simple matter a woman bonds with her unborn child deeply. It is hard enough for a woman to give up her offspring for adoption, but to put a woman at risk for it is dangerous.

Really, I think adoption is something that needs to be held in higher regard in the Christian Community as a whole

 

[Dave-W]

Neither am I in favor of it. And I agree that adoption is the better choice.

But you asked for a biblical argument on its morality. So I answered that question.