Gestational surrogacy a bad recipe for Louisiana

by Brenda DesOrmeaux / theadvertiser.com

Louisiana is poised to become the new California — a haven for reproductive tourism that exploits women and unborn children in a web of “gestational surrogacy” regulations.

Often referred to as a “wombs for rent” bill, the author explained the process to the health committee by likening the surrogate woman to an “oven.” The reality that this is the commoditization of women as products to be rented is illustrated by the catalog of women that are displayed on surrogacy websites.

Louisiana Senate Bill 162 is being sold as a “restriction” on contract pregnancies.

But by creating an intricate system of court procedures designed to protect the interests of “intended parents” who will hire single moms in need, SB 162 actually incentivizes and creates a new baby broker industry.

The bill is being promoted with the seemingly harmless personal experiences of the bill’s author who used a surrogate in California for the birth of his two beautiful children who are entitled to the same love and respect owed to every human life.

But behind the seemingly happy endings of some contract pregnancies lies a dark under-belly. No one hears about the multiple miscarriages, the discarded human embryos, or the serious health dangers to the surrogate that come with the high level of carcinogenic hormone injections required to prepare her body for the surgical transfer of the human embryo. Standard surrogacy contracts place the risk of various harms on the surrogate. They also provide payments to the surrogate for “extra procedures” like abortion. Because multiple embryos are implanted to maximize the potential for success, “selective reduction” (i.e. abortion) of even healthy unborn children is also part of the contract when intended parents don’t want more than one or two babies.

No one hears about how this industry profits surrogate brokers, agencies and lawyers who inevitably end up fighting over issues such as coerced abortion of imperfect unborn children. See CNN, “Surrogate offered $10,000 to abort baby” (March 6, 2013).

In states that sanction surrogacy, brokers target young single moms (since they are proven producers) with the offer of “reasonable living expenses” in the range of $25,000 to $50,000 depending on her proven track record.

This form of trafficking treats human beings as commodities — even requiring that a court issue a “pre-implantation order” prior to the transfer of the couple’s embryonic offspring to the womb of the surrogate woman. Louisiana is known for its cooking, but treating women as ovens is not a good recipe.

Please contact your state senator and/or representatived to “vote “no” on the conference committee report on SB 162.