Surrogacy as a Contemporary Assisted Reproductive Technique and Its Social Implications

E. Narh¹

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.7 , Issue.12 , pp.55-59, Dec-2021

Online published on Dec 31, 2021

Copyright © E. Narh . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Pressure on the family to produce babies has forced people to resort to other means of producing babies. Until recently, the traditional sole means of procreation had been the normal process where babies are produced from sexual intercourse. In these contemporary times where novel family structures such as gay and lesbian couples have sprung up in multitudes, surrogacy which is an assisted reproductive technique has come to aid such couples and couples with fertility problems to also have their babies. This paper adopted the Social Strain Theory by Robert K. Merton in explaining why some individuals engage in surrogacy. This paper used articles obtained from academic databases and search engines following a search of topic headings related to the topic of this paper. A literature review was made with these articles to bring out the meaning of surrogacy, the types, and its social impacts. The literature revealed that surrogate mothers go through psychological stress due to the umbilical link to the resulting child. Others also have pregnancy complications that affect their reproductive system. Aside from these, this paper revealed that men who are unable to get women pregnant and engage in surrogacy can be seen as weak men which may lead to suicide, depression, and gender stereotypes. The paper concluded on the notion that surrogacy has gained social recognition even in countries where these practices are not accepted and so the social impacts which are mostly avoided by researchers should be looked at to avoid challenges in this practice.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Surrogacy, Assisted Reproductive Technology, Gestational Surrogacy, Traditional Surrogacy, Designing of babies, In Vitro Fertilization

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