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What are the rights involved in surrogacy of a deformed fetus?

Recently, a married couple contracted with a surrogate to carry a child to term. In the middle of the pregnancy, the fetus was diagnosed with serious developmental deformities. The parents attempted to invoke the abortion clause in their surrogacy contract, and they offered the surrogate an extra $10,000 to abort. However, the surrogate fled to another state so that she would be considered the child's mother at birth, and she arranged to have the baby adopted. In this case, there seems to be a conflict between a woman's right to control her own body, the right of the parents' to control what happens to their baby, and the contractual rights in the surrogacy agreement. So what are the rights of the parents and the surrogate in this kind of case? What would have been the morally right course of action for the surrogate and for the parents?

Emily C , 09.03.2013, 07:31
Idea status: under consideration

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