Surrogate Chaos, Part 1: Stating the Obvious (and the Not-So-Obvious)
Identifying the primary ethical concerns of traditional and gestational surrogacy
In 1985, William Stern established a “surrogacy contract” with Mary Beth Whitehead – a woman he and his wife became connected with through the Infertility Center of New York. Under this contract, Mary Beth would be artificially inseminated by William and would conceive a child using her own eggs in what’s known as a “traditional surrogacy” (versus a “gestational surrogacy”, which refers to a surrogate’s impregnation with another couple’s fertilized embryo through the process of invitro fertilization). Mary Beth would carry the baby to term and, upon the birth of the child, relinquish all rights as the child’s mother to William and his wife, Elizabeth. In exchange, Mary Beth would receive $10,000.
This was the agreement – until, of course, Mary Beth met her biological child.
Baby M – of the landmark New Jersey case, In the Matter of Baby M., which was the first in the U.S. to make any sort of formal ruling on the issue of surrogacy – was born on March 27, 1986. Mary Beth became immediately attached to her daughter and expressed to the Sterns in the hospital that she wasn’t sure she could part with her. Nevertheless, she handed her over to them three days later – on March 30th.
Within a few hours, Mary Beth had descended into a total emotional breakdown. She returned to the Sterns’ home and begged for her baby back.
From here, the story becomes increasingly grimmer. The Sterns gave the baby to Mary Beth, under the agreement that she’d be returned to their custody within one week. After delaying her return for many months, Mary Beth and her husband ultimately fled the state with the baby, hopping from hotel to hotel to avoid being apprehended. All the while, Mary Beth engaged in disturbing and heart-wrenching phone discussions with Mr. Stern in which she threatened to kill herself and the baby if she was forced to return her to him and his wife.
The end of the story is a sad one – but was there a happy ending to be had? Courts sided with the Sterns and ruled that Mary Beth, due to the nature of the initial agreement, would be required to hand her over to her natural father – William Stern.
And here begins the utter chaos that is legal surrogacy in the USA.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Pelican Fiat to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.