Ethical questions on ‘baby-making’ posed

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 4

Ethical questions on ‘baby-making’ posed

By

SARAH SANDS

Technology that can create life outside the womb has raised many ethical questions that need to be answered, says the author of a book on modern “baby-making.” Ms Susan Downie, a free-lance medical writer based in Hong Kong, said yesterday that she wrote “Baby-making — The Technology and Ethics” to stimulate public debate. "It is very impotant that the public become involved in the whole debate of assisted reproduction because it affects all of us, not just infertile couples,” she said. “We should not leave the debate and decisionmaking to doctors, scientists and lawyers.” Technology was moving so quickly that decisions needed to be made, said Ms Downie. . “When it comes to embryo experimentation, it is important that we have some understanding of when life begins and what moral and legal status the embryo has. “We have never had to answer these questions before — it is only because of the advent of new forms of assisted reproduction such as in vitro fertilisation which has allowed us to create the beginnings of human life outside the body.” The response from the medical profession to the book had been positive, said Ms Downie. "Not only are the medical profession wanting public debate, they are actually inviting the public to tell them how far they should go and what they are allowed to do,” she said. “They want the public to decide the limitations and the controls.” Ms Downie is a “big fan” of non-commercial surrogacy, which she said had received a lot of bad publicity. “Because of Baby M, everybody in the world assumes that all surrogacy cases end in tears and a tug-of-war between the surrogate mother and the infertile couple. “In fact, 597 of the first 600 cases in the United States ended in joy, but you don’t hear about those, you only hear about the three that went wrong when the surrogate mother changed her mind.” One in three marriages in the United States ended in divorce and a tug-of-war over the children,

which gave surrogacy a higher success rate than the general population, said Ms Downie. Surrogacy was one of the most “loving, generous acts” one woman could do for another, she said. “It is a gift of love, not in a religious sense but in a humane way.” Ms Downie answers few of the many ethical questions she raises in her book but she does suggest three laws to cover surrogacy and the donation of eggs, sperm and embryos: © Donors of eggs, sperm and embryos give up all rights to any subsequent children at the time of donation.

® The legal mother of the child is the birthing mother. © The legal father is the husband or partner of the legal mother until such time as both sign the adoption papers giving the custody of the child to someone else. “Those are three absolutely basic laws we should have to cover any methods involving egg, embryo or sperm donation and surrogacy. “Once we have these laws we should set up a Government - controlled non-profit agency, something like an adoption agency, to administer surrogacy.”