By Lavoisier Fernandes
Lately, Pope Francis made headlines when he called for global surrogacy to be banned whilst terming it despicable. Listening to these headlines, one might say, “Can the Church not “mind its own business” and put its own house in order with all the scandals and corruption? What is all the fuss about these morally sensitive subjects like abortion and euthanasia, and now a new addition to this “fuss group” is surrogacy?
One might further add: What does the Church know about the burden of having an unplanned child, not bearing a child, or caring for a bedridden spouse or parent? And should not every individual have the right to choose what to do with their bodies? Perhaps the Church should not be more understanding of homosexual couples, giving them the right to have surrogate children? Can’t the Church move “with the times”? And with all its good and advancement in medical science why is the Church so primitive, rigid, and all gaga with these morally sensitive subjects?
I understand and much like my own, and do not get me wrong, these are purely reasonable questions. However, let us get an understanding of what surrogacy is, the Catholic understanding, and the rise of surrogacy in India along with selective abortion.
What is Surrogacy?
In layman terms, surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby for a couple who are unable to conceive or carry a child themselves for medical or physical reasons. A gestational carrier is a woman who carries and delivers a child for a couple or individual. Surrogate mothers are impregnated using in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Why is the Church all gaga against it ?
The Catholic Church has consistently opposed Surrogacy, in vitro fertilization(IVF) and abortion on the grounds that they violate the natural law. Natural law is a philosophy that states there are certain unchangeable parts of human nature that God endows.
Catholic understanding is that that intercourse within heterosexual marriage is the only acceptable way to reproduce, that life begins at conception, and that an embryo has a right to life from conception until natural death. Hence, the Catholic Church only encourages reproduction within the confines of heterosexual marriage, and when a heterosexual couple cannot conceive via intercourse, they are encouraged to adopt or remain childless.
The church has consistently condemned IVF because conception takes place outside of heterosexual intercourse. IVF results in the destruction of embryos and involves conception via a test tube. The church likewise has never supported surrogacy, so the pope’s recent assessment of surrogacy as “despicable” is consistent with the church’s overall views of reproduction.
Pope Francis on Surrogacy-“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract”
In an address on 8th January 2024 to the diplomatic ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis condemned the practice of surrogacy saying:
“The path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking.”
“In this regard, I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
Ethical Concerns and the rise in India’s Surrogacy Tourism
Surrogacy is an expensive affair because intended parents pay health care fees for both themselves and the surrogate, many of which aren’t covered by insurance. Surrogacy is unethical on the grounds that that this systemic oppression drives women into surrogacy due to poverty and their vulnerability being used to buy women’s bodies.
India legalized surrogacy in 2002 as part of a long-term push to promote medical tourism. Since 1991, when India’s new free-market policies took effect, private money has flowed in, fuelling construction of world-class hospitals that cater to foreigners.
In her research book “Wombs in Labor- Transnational Commercial Surrogacy in India”, Amrita Pande the author talks about how surrogacy is India’s new form of outsourcing, as couples from all over the world hire Indian women to bear their children for a fraction of the cost of surrogacy elsewhere with little to no government oversight or regulation. Amrita Pande visits clinics and hostels and speaks with surrogates and their families, clients, doctors, brokers, and hostel matrons in order to shed light on this burgeoning business and the experiences of the labourers within it. From recruitment to training to delivery, Pande’s research focuses on how reproduction meets production in surrogacy and how this reflects characteristics of India’s larger labour system. She says that surrogates traverse borders and straddle relationships that test the boundaries of race, class, religion, and nationality.
In another piece Inside India’s Rent-a-Womb Business Scott Carney informs that surrogacy tourism has grown steadily in India with clinic charges about $15,000 to $20,000 for the entire process with the surrogate making anything between $ 5000-$6000, from in vitro fertilization to delivery in comparison to the US where it would cost anything between $50,000 and $100,000.
Pope Francis has been consistently speaking against the “throwaway Culture.”
Since his election in 2013 Pope Francis has spoken consistently on “the throwaway culture” and this has been a common theme of his pontificate, be it the weekly Papal Catechesis, Sunday Angelus homily, the off the cuff interview with journalist on a papal trip or through his Apostolic Exhortation writings “Amoris Laetitia” or his Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti”.
During the Pontifical Academy for Life in June 2018 and reflecting on the theme “Equal beginnings, but then? A global responsibility” the Holy Father said:
“Behind the indifference towards human life lies a contagious illness that blinds people to the lives, challenges and struggles of others.” He also went on to say that “life from conception, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, as well in those moments when it is “fragile and sick, wounded, offended, demoralized, marginalized and those cast aside “is” always human life.
“When we surrender children to deprivation, the poor to hunger, the persecuted to war, the elderly to abandonment, we are not doing our own work but rather the dirty work of death. And where does the ‘dirty work’ of death come from? It comes from sin.”
Nevertheless, what Pope Francis talks about is nothing new in Catholic moral teaching, it is just fundamentally articulated in a different flavour or style from his predecessors. The deposit of faith (rooted from the bible) on the sanctity of human life has been consistent; without change, all through the life of the Church. The Catholic Church has continuously been resolute for the sanctity of human life; from conception to natural death and that is precisely the reason the church goes all gaga against these moral issues.
Lavoisier Fernandes, born and raised in Goa, is currently based in West London. His faith is “work in progress” — a lifelong journey. He has always been fascinated by the Catholic faith, thanks to his Salesian schooling. His passions are podcasting, theology, the papacy, and volunteering. He has hosted the ‘Talking Faith’ series for Heavens Road FM Catholic Radio, connecting with ordinary men and women within the Catholic faith and other faiths and examining issues affecting both the Church and society. He has also hosted the ‘Heart Talk’ series for Shalom World Catholic TV. He presently contributes for the Goa Diocesan magazine Renovação and the Faith Companion Magazine in England.