Ethical and Legal Issues with Surrogacy Posted on by The term surrogate mother or surrogacy is not new today. This has become a very popular trend among many people in the world today. In addition to being the only way that gay couples can bear children, it is also the only choice for barren women to bear children. Surrogacy is a concept that has been in existence for many decades now. However, the years have not made it any easier because there are still very many issues that may arise due to surrogacy. The most common and complex issues that are raised by surrogacy are ethical and legal. Here are some of the ethical and legal issues with surrogacy today: What surrogacy arrangements are considered legal? Surrogacy is a concept that has been out there or a long time but there are still controversies surrounding the whole concept. There are counties where surrogacy is completely illegal. In some countries, only commercial surrogacy is illegal and in some only altruistic surrogacy is illegal.In places that surrogacy is not considered illegal, should the law impose criteria for eligibility of the surrogate, their spouse and even the parents of the baby? There is a question whether the authorities should or should not screen the involved parties for their criminal records and health records. There is also the question of the right age where the surrogate mother can have children.Are there any protective measures in place to offer security to the surrogate mother in the case that she wants to change her mind? A better surrogacy agency California should be considered. There is a question whether the law is enforceable or not to allow the mother to keep the baby when she is reluctant to hand over the baby during any of the stages of the pregnancy.Are there any protective measures in place to cover the children that were born of surrogate mothers? This may come in handy when the commissioning parents back out of the agreement. There is a question on the amount of information that the resulting children are entitled to receive on the whole process and even their commissioning parents.Are there any protective measures for surrogate mothers during the pregnancy and delivery? Are there any laws in place that protect the surrogate mothers from forced and coerced caesarian sections to reduce the size of the fetus? Are there laws in place to protect the surrogates from forced abortions due to abnormalities in the development of the fetuses?Is there any provision in the law for the children to have any information about their surrogate mothers? Is there a limit on the amount of knowledge that the children should know about their surrogate mothers? Is there also any provision in the law that allows he mother to have access to any information about the child?Should the child born of the surrogate mother have access to information on the other children born of the same surrogate mother if there are any?What is the right process to recruit women into the surrogacy program? Is it right and legal to advertise the jobs commercially and what are the methods of recruitment that should not be allowed? The concept of surrogacy has been widely accepted by many people in the world today. However, as demonstrated above, surrogacy still continues to raise many issues both morally and legally.