Rising infertility rates might not seem to be incongruous with a world trying to grapple with an ever-increasing population. However, several estimates round the globe, including that of WHO, indicate that infertility is indeed a serious health issue affecting almost 17%of the world’s adult population.Hence several interventions like surrogacy and ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) technologies become useful to curb the malice of infertility so that humans can thrive sustainably, facilitating the fulfillment of essential human rights by each one of us. Among all such interventions, surrogacy is the most popular one owing to its cost effectiveness. However, since this method involves the use of third-party gametes or uterus, it presents a labyrinth of moral and ethical issues which requires our attention. Religious Orthodoxy and Prejudices Though times have changed from HAGAR, who was banished for bearing the surrogate child ISMAEL, little have changed for Catholic church on its stance for surrogacy. Traditional and religious elements in society perceive motherhood and procreation as sanctimonious, a gift from God, which ought to be preserved in the most natural form. Any external intervention by man is seen as jeopardizing the natural law. They seek an outright ban on surrogacy on moral and religious grounds.However, such a narrow outlook towards surrogacy is replete with several societal prejudices. As a result, parties opting for surrogacy are seen to be violating the accepted moral norms and are subjected to several social barriers which are mostly skewed against woman. For example, a women willing to be a surrogate mother is perceived as a ‘whore’ who carries the ‘illegitimate child’ of another man and is banished from the society. Couples who opt for surrogacy are also labelled and name-shamed in most societies. Liberalists solution – Profession and Body Autonomy Hence, liberal scholars argue for a more accommodative approach towards surrogacy. They argue that surrogacy should be devoid of any moral ethos as motherhood and procreation is not a holier than thou choice, and thus there’s nothing immoral to it. They urge to consider surrogacy as a profession just like any other and therefore supports commercial surrogacy, wherein the……
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