Hiring a surrogate in Ukraine costs $63,000. In Colombia, US$ 75 thousand. In the United States, up to $130,000. In addition, there are travel costs to pick up the child. And the risk, as has happened with the war on Ukrainian soil, of simply not having access to the person hired to get pregnant. Why do so many Brazilian families go to this trouble? And, above all, what are the ethical and moral dilemmas of paying for another woman to be pregnant with a child generated by another couple?
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“The desire to have a child with one’s own genetics is a cultural issue”, says Lenise Garcia, president of the National Movement for Citizenship for Life. “Also, the assisted reproduction industry, which is very profitable, does a very efficient marketing job. Ethical and health issues are not addressed. There is no reflection on the subject”.
In the education of the child, she says, there is an “addiction of origin”. “The child was born out of a business relationship. She is not to blame, but, on the other hand, the practice violates human dignity itself. This mark is already in the history of that person”. Life, which has incalculable value, is priced and manipulated, which leads the person generated in this way to have serious psychological dilemmas over time.
As the lawyer Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva, post-doctorate in Bioethics Law and president of the Family and Succession Law Association (ADFAS), points out, surrogacy creates a difficulty for the formation of the child’s individuality: “Being human generated by this technique will never know its biological origin, where it came from, which creates an existential void, in addition to the involuntary possibility of incest”.
The two experts agree: the practice, which is prohibited in Brazil, should remain so. “Having a child is an act of love that should be totally detached from the individual interests of men and women who have medical problems that prevent or contraindicate pregnancy. It is inadmissible to lease a womb to generate a child, with the aggravating factor that, in the surrogacy pregnancy, there is obviously a violation of the rights of the pregnant woman, who ends up clinging to being generated in her womb”, says Regina Beatriz.
“It is positive that the practice is not allowed in Brazil. For the woman who submits, it is certainly degrading. This exploitation goes against the dignity of the person, as well as the child born under these circumstances”, agrees Lenise.
Understand the legislation
In fact, the figure of surrogacy does not exist in Brazil. The subject is not regulated by a specific law, but a resolution of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM), published in 2017 and updated in 2021, deals with the so-called “surrogate pregnancy”, or “temporary cession of the uterus”.
It determines that the woman who lends her body for the pregnancy of another couple (who may be homosexual) must have at least one living child and belong to the family of one of the partners in blood kinship up to the fourth degree. If the woman is in a stable relationship, the partner must sign a term stating that he/she agrees with the decision.
Any other case is subject to evaluation. “It is possible to turn to people outside the family circle, but it will be necessary to request authorization from the Regional Council of Medicine”, explains lawyer Luciana Munhoz, a specialist in Biolaw and Health.
Charging money for the service is a crime framed in the Transplant Law 1997, which prohibits the sale of organs, tissues and body parts. But there is no legal impediment to hiring surrogates outside the country, as long as the nation in question authorizes the procedure. Ukraine is on that list.
In some nations, such as Mexico, India and Thailand, paying for a pregnancy in another woman is allowed, but only for residents of the country. In the United States, Greece, Colombia, Albania and Ukraine, however, foreigners can also request the service. Average prices are high: they range from R$75,000 in Albania and Colombia to up to US$130,000 in the United States.
Hiring a surrogate abroad does not mean breaking any Brazilian law, explains Luciana Munhoz. “There is no influence of Brazilian legislation on children born abroad. She can be registered in the country where she was born, and also in Brazil, in order to acquire dual nationality. From a legal point of view, it is considered a case of intercountry adoption.” But ethical and moral issues remain.
Adoption is a viable alternative
The best alternative to looking for surrogacy abroad, points out the president of ADFAS, would be adoption. “It’s the best and most respectful way to have a child if you can’t get pregnant. according to the Child and Adolescent Statutethe adoptee has the right to know who his biological mother and father are”.
Lenise Garcia agrees. “Adoption is for the purpose of giving parents to children, not children to parents. It has the function of resolving the situation on both sides, the child in need and also the situation of people who for some reason are unable to have children in a natural way”.
She recalls that the relationship of a father and mother with a child is one of the most intimate and profound for a human being. “The more complications I have in the formation of the family, the more we treat a person’s most intimate relationship in an artificial and commercial way. This has an effect on how a human being sees himself.”
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