Feminist Theory Meets Empirical Research on Surrogate Mothers

The topic of surrogacy seems to elicit strong and sometimes conflicted reactions. In particular, it has been the subject of some less than favorable discussion in posts on this blog (see here and here, both cross-posts from other blogs) and elsewhere. However, many opinions about, and objections to, surrogacy seem to be fueled by impression or speculation (as opposed to factual evidence) or the cherry-picking of individual cases (in the case of the NY Times article linked to above, a few horror stories) and reading them as representative of every (or at least many or most) surrogacy arrangement(s). For this reason, I would highly recommend reading  Revisiting The Handmaid’s Tale: Feminist Theory Meets Empirical Research on Surrogate Mothers by Karen Busby and Delaney Vun. Busby is on the law faculty at the University of Manitoba and Vun was formerly a student there and is now a practicing lawyer. In their piece, they analyze feminist objections to surrogacy and examine them in light of empirical studies on surrogacy in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It is an excellent read and important work for anyone considering writing on the topic of surrogacy. (Please note that the paper is not on SSRN, but is only available for now on Busby’s web page, which I have linked to above.)

-Tony Infanti