Interreligious perspectives on Surrogate Motherhood

pdf
Published: Oct 1, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/bioeth.39043
Ioannis Ladas
Adjunct Professor at the Antiochian House of Studies (AHOS), CA, US
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7767-026X
Abstract

Surrogate motherhood raises a variety of ethical, legal, theological, and sociological questions. Discussions on this topic often become heated, particularly when considering the use of a woman's body to carry a pregnancy on behalf of another individual—married or unmarried, male or female—with an ovum that, in most cases, has no biological connection to her and is legally recognized as belonging to the commissioning party or parties post-birth. On one side, issues of self-determination, solidarity, and compassion are debated, while on the other, dignity, the sanctity of life, commodification, and exploitation are concerns. This article, without overlooking these significant issues, attempts an interreligious examination of surrogate motherhood to elucidate how the three major monotheistic religions, along with Hinduism and Buddhism, assess, interpret, and understand this practice. The aim is to highlight both converging and diverging positions across different views and to more fully comprehend the various theological and cultural dimensions that shape the contemporary bioethical understanding of this issue.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Reviews
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution  CC BY 4.0 License, which allows for immediate free access to the work and permits any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose. Appropriate credit must be given by citing the author(s) and the original publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

We encourage authors to deposit their articles, as well as data underlying the publications, in institutional and/or other appropriate subject repositories.

Bioethica permits and encourages authors to archive the final publication pdf  in institutional (e.g. the repository of the National Hellenic Research Foundation) or other appropriate subject repositories (e.g. SSOAR repository for social sciences),  in compliance with institutional and/or funder open access policies, after publication in the BIOETHICA. Authors must provide bibliographic details that credit publication in the journal, as well as related funding details (when applicable).

Lists of institutional and other subject-based academic open access repositories can be found listed by country at the registry http://opendoar.org/countrylist.php   

If your institution does not possess a repository you may deposit a copy of your paper at no cost with www.zenodo.org , the repository supported for open access research in the EU by the European Commission, through the project OpenAIRE (www.openaire.eu )

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Babiniotis G. Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας (Dictionary of the Modern Greek Language). Lexicology Center, Athens 1998.
Charalambakis Ch. Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας (Practical Dictionary of Modern Greek Language.). National Printing Office, Athens 2014.
Chattopadhyay S. Permissibility of Surrogacy in Islamic Law, Chatterjee, Shrabana, Permissibility of Surrogacy in Islamic Law 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3952492.
Christinaki El. Ιστορική Πορεία της Γυναίκας στη Βίβλο και Ισότητα των Δύο Φύλων (The Historical Journey of Women in the Bible and the Equality of the Two Genders), Symmetry Publications, Athens 2005.
Deonandan R. Thoughts on the ethics of gestational surrogacy: Perspectives from religions, western liberalism, and comparisons with adoption. J Assist Reprod Genet 2020, 37: 269-279. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01647-y.
Farid S. Why Islam has two ways of looking at surrogacy. https://360info.org/why-islam-has-two-ways-of-looking-at-surrogacy/.
Golinkin D. What does Jewish law have to say about surrogacy? The Schechter Institutes 2012, 7. http://www.schechter.edu/what-does-jewish-law-have-to-say-about-surrogacy/.
Hathout H. Islamic perspectives in obstetrics and gynaecology. Alam al-Kutub, Cairo1988.
Husain F. Reproductive issues from the Islamic perspective. Hum Fertil, Camb 2000, 3: 124-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464727002000198831.
Jacobovitz I. Jewish medical ethics: A comparative and historical study of the Jewish religious attitude to medicine and its practice. Bloch Publishers, New York 1975.
Jotkowitz A. Surrogate Motherhood Revisited: Maternal Identity from a Jewish Perspective. J Relig Health 2011, 50: 835-840. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9494-4.
Kumar A, Ethical Aspects of Assisted Reproduction. An Indian Viewpoint 2007, 14: 140-142.
Ladas I. Η απόφαση της Εκκλησίας της Ρωσίας περί απαγορεύσεως της τελέσεως του μυστηρίου της βαπτίσεως σε βρέφη που έχουν γεννηθεί μέσω παρένθετης μητέρας και η ανάγκη κοινής αντιμετωπίσεως των Βιοηθικών Ζητημάτων από την Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία (The decision of the Church of Russia on the prohibition of the sacrament of baptism for infants born through surrogate motherhood and the need for a common approach to bioethical issues by the Orthodox Church). KOSMOS - Scientific Journal of the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2020: 129-137.
Mantzaridis G. Θεολογική θεώρηση της υποβοηθούμενης αναπαραγωγής (Theological consideration of assisted reproduction). ΕΕΘΣΘ 2000, 10: 97-99.
Mohsin E. Islamic teachings and surrogate motherhood. Journal for the Study of Religion 1990, 3: 35-45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24764156.
Niazi S, Islamic Law and the Surrogate Mother. Aref Abu-Rabia, Infertility and Surrogacy in Islamic Society: Socio-Cultural, Psychological, Ethical, and Religious Dilemmas, The Open Psychology Journal 2013, 6: 54-60.
Nikolaidis A. Από τη Γένεση στη Γενετική (From Genesis to Genetics). Grigoris Publications, Athens 2006.
Nnamuchi O. Surrogacy, Religious Culture, and the Imperatives of the Law: Any Caveats for Law Makers?. In: Duruigbo, E., Chibueze, R., Gozie Ogbodo, S. (eds) International Law and Development in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13741-9_15.
Protopapadakis E. Ο νέος εφιάλτης του Σολωμόντος, παρένθετη μητρότητα και Βιοηθική (Solomon's new nightmare, surrogacy, and Bioethics). In: Μάνος Α. (ed.) Άνθρωπος και Τεχνολογία: Η Παγκόσμια Πολιτική και Οικονομική Κρίση. Dardanos Publications, Athens 2011: 85-94.
Rimon-Zarfaty N. Parochial Altruism: A Religion-Sensitive Analysis of the Israeli Surrogacy and Egg Donation Legislation. In: Mitra, S., Schicktanz, S., Patel, T. (eds) Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78670-4_17.
Sareidakis E. Βιοηθική - Ηθικά προβλήματα των νέων βιοϊατρικών τεχνολογιών (Bioethics - Ethical issues of new biomedical technologies). Papazisis Publications, Athens 2008.
Schenker J. Assisted reproductive practice: Religious perspectives. Reprod Biomed Online 2005, 10: 310-9.
Schenker JG. Human reproduction: Jewish perspectives. Gynecol Endocrinol 2013, 29: 945-8.
Schenker JG. Infertility evaluation and treatment according to Jewish law. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 1997, 7:113-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-2115(96)02621-8.
Sharmin I, Nordin R, Mohd Nor H, Al-Mahmood A. Ethics of surrogacy: A comparative study of Western secular and islamic bioethics. J IMA 2013, 44:1-5. https://doi.org/10.5915/44-1-5920.
Spirko J. Buddhist Beliefs About Surrogate Mothers. https://classroom.synonym.com/buddhist-beliefs-about-surrogate-mothers-12087675.html. History Channel, Buddhism. https://www.history.com/topics/religion/buddhism.
Spitz R. On the use of birth surrogates. https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/19912000/spitz_surrogate.pdf.
Stavropoulos G., Hornby Α. Oxford English-Greek Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Oxford - New York, 2001.
Sujadmiko B, Aji N, Mulyani L, Rasyid S, Meutia, I. Surrogacy in Indonesia: The comparative legality and Islamic perspective. HTS Theological Studies 2023, 79: 1-8. https://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v79i1.8108.
Tendler M. Infertility management: Cure or Ill. Sh’ma 1987, 17: 109-10.
Vantsos M. Παρένθετη μητρότητα: Πράξη ανιδιοτελούς προσφοράς ή εμπορευματοποίησης του σώματος; (Surrogate motherhood: An act of altruistic offering or commodification of the body?). KOSMOS - Scientific Journal of the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2020: 85-97.
Most read articles by the same author(s)