Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, February 11,1988
Opinion
Outlawing surrogate motherhood seems unfair
The New Jersey
Supreme Court,
with its ruling last
week in the Baby
M case, has put re
strictions on sur-
rogate moth-
erhood contracts
that could discour
age the use of sur
rogacy by infertile
couples.
“Baby M ” is
Amy
Couvillon
what the courts dubbed a little girl born
two years ago under a $10,000 surro
gate contract in New Jersey who has
spent most of her life as the object of a
bitter, emotional custody battle. On Feb.
3 the New Jersey supreme court, in a 7-
0 decision, declared the surrogacy con
tract illegal and rendered it void, award
ing custody to the child’s father, William
Stern.
In a surrogacy contract, a woman car
ries and delivers a baby for a another in
dividual or a couple who cannot have a
baby. In some cases, the woman is im
pregnated by artificial insemination and
is the natural mother of the child she
gives up, and in other cases a fetilized
egg or embryo is implanted into the
womb of the surrogate mother, and she
delivers a child not her own.
The court opinion sharply criticized
commercial surrogacy contracts, saying
that paying a woman to have a baby
amounts to illegal baby-selling.
“This is the sale of a child, or at the
very least, the sale of a mother’s right to
her child,” the New Jersey justices
wrote.
The justices said a woman can volun
teer to be a surrogate mother as long as
the agreement allows the mother to
change her mind about giving up her
parental right to the baby. But they crit
icized the concept of surrogacy, saying
that it is “potentially degrading to wo
men.”
The Baby M case got the courts and
the nation talking about surrogate
motherhood and discussing ways to re
strict and regulate it. But it never would
have gone to court if the mother of the
child, Mary Beth Whitehead-Gould,
hadn’t been such a fruitcake — the
court condemned her as an impulsive
and manipulative woman and heard a
secretly recorded conversation in which
Whitehead-Gould threatened to kill
herself and the baby if Stern did not let
her keep her daughter.
“The unfortunate events that have
unfolded illustrate that its unregulated
use can bring suffering on all involved,”
the justices wrote in the opinion, which
was the First state supreme court ruling
on a broken surrogate contract.
It would be sad if the antics of one im
mature, hysterical woman could cast a
bad light on surrogate contracts, or
cause them to be outlawed.
Surrogate contracts are a dream
come true for infertile couples who
would like the baby to be a natural child
of at least one of them, for couples
where the woman can conceive a child
but cannot carry it to term and for cou
ples who cannot conceive at all and face
years of waiting to adopt a healthy in
fant.
The decision is not binding on any
state except New Jersey. Both sides of
the Baby M case say they will not appeal
to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is
good; obviously, the best thing for the
little girl is for her to remain with the
Sterns. But if the Supreme Court hears
a similar case, it may rule the contracts
illegal or severely restrict their use. And
this is not good.
The restriction of surrogate arrange
ments seems bitterly ironic when com
pared with the legal status of abortion.
If commerical surrogate contracts
were declared illegal, a woman could
agree before she gave birth to give the
baby to someone else, but she could ac
cept no money for this, because this is
“baby selling.” If a fetus can be the sub
ject of a pre-birth surrogate contract,
and the mother can choose to give up
her parental right before birth, then
isn’t the fetus considered “alive?” The
court said a woman’s carrying a fetus for
money is “baby selling.” If the subject of
the contract is a “baby,” then for the
purposes of surrogate contracts, an un
born baby is still a baby. But since Roe v.
Wade in 1973, a woman can choose at
I -WINK NWESStHG THESE ALLEGt&nOHS
HENJ-OH IS ^ FINE 1PEA, S»R-
tAY ONLY SOGCrESTtOH KMGWTBE
Humanism reflects religious ideals
The “Humanist
Manifesto” has
some notable and
positive ideals; in
terestingly, these
ideals have their
roots in religion.
There must be
Dalton
Garis
Guest Columnist
an appreciation of the differfence be
tween the essential message of religion
as revealed by the Prophets themselves
and the attempts to follow these teach
ings as embodied and interpreted by the
various religious sects.
What better examples of this differ
ence can there be than that which is seen
in Islam and Christianity today? Vir
tually no religious communities’ actions
are justified in their own Book. Be that
as it may, the religious message of their
own scriptures is as strong and vital as
ever.
Two points should be considered: (1)
how much more bestial would we all be
now were these messages of peace and
promise never to have been delivered;
and (2) that the authorship of the most
noble and high-minded philosophical
thinking has as its first source the
Prophets of God.
While historical examples of this
abound (legal codes in every land incul
cate the Ten Commandments of Moses)
I shall give a contemporary example.
Inspect the following list for points of
agreement with the more far-reaching
articles of the “Humanist Manifesto”:
The equality of men and women; the
abolishment of all forms of prejudice;
the essential harmony between science
and religion; the necessity of universal
compulsory education; a call for the es
tablishment of a universal standard of
weights and measures; the need for a
common universal money system; a call
to establish a world executive and the
creation of a world federation of sover
eign nation states for the establishment
of collective security; the need to select
or create a universal auxiliary language;
the elimination of gross extremes of
wealth and poverty.
The above principles are each the
verbatum tenants of belief of the Baha’i
Faith, one of the divinely revealed world
encompassing religions.
It seems that what the humanists do is
analogous to their reflecting the sun in a
hand-held mirror, declaring that their
light originates from their own creation
and denying the existence of the sun!
All attempts to upraise the standard
of nobility of humankind must be ap
plauded; but it cannot be forgotten that
both our best teachings and ourselves
have been created of an Intelligence
and Essence, the unsearchableness and
the manifestness of which is admitted to
by all the greatest scientists, philo
sophers and thinkers who have ever
lived.
Dalton Garis is an graduate student.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sue Krenek, Editor
Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor
Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor
Amy Couvillon, City Editor
Robbyn L. Lister and
Becky Weisenfels,
News Editors
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor
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BLOOM COUNTY
will to kill the embryo or fetus in her
uterus, because the baby is not consid
ered to be a baby until birth. There’s a
contradiction here. You can kill your fe
tus, but you can’t sell it.
Now, abortion is a sticky, emotional
subject, a subject on which I’m deeply
divided. I consider an embryo or fetus
“alive,” because it would be ridiculous
not to. Is your baby any more “alive”
when it kicks the outside of your abdo
men than when it was kicking from the
inside? And ending a human life is mor
ally and ethically wrong.
But this life, this future human being,
happens to be inside another human be
ing, who must retain some privacy, and
some right to her body and her life
plans. And it would be extremely diffi
cult, if not impossible, to enforce an
anti-abortion law. How can you regulate
and police something that happens in
side a person? I was raised Catholic, and
the subject of abortion hurts to think
about, but I don’t think such a law
would do any good.
But if the Supreme Court has de
clared that a baby is not a baby until it’s
born, then how can it in conscience
uphold a decision like the New Jersey
one?
And isn’t the crime of baby-selling (or
fetus-selling or whatever they call it)
preferable to abortion? Paying a woman
to have a baby (whether her own or
someone else’s) seems inherently wrong,
Mail Call
A few bones to pick with Jill
EDITOR:
Great article Jill! Your expertise on poverty shows that you have greatly
studied this subject. Where did you receive your PhD? In that UPPER-MID
DLE CLASS NORTH DALLAS neighborhood!
Well, as you can tell, I have a few bones to pick with you and your reliable
resource, Megan. First, the Rio Grande Valley is not the only low-income
area. I’ve been to Dallas and have seen poverty stricken areas there. Where
have you been? Why have you confined yourself to that bubble? Areyouhid
ing from something? Get out and look around. Look in your own backyard!
It’s not just in the valley. It’s in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta,It's
all over the United States.
Second, your and Megan’s stereotype of Mexican-Americans, not Mexi
cans, is just wrong. There are many Hispanics — Prank Lozano, Martin
Sheen, Henry Cisneros and Katherine Ortega — who prove that your ant
Megan’s idea of Mexican-Americans is unrealistic and sad. One person’sin
terpretation does not mean that it is factual. Don’t be judge, jury and pros
ecutor.
Third, Megan’s statement about questioning the moral decency of young i
Hispanic girls is totally ridiculous. Don’t tell me your and Megan’s moral stan
dards are above anyone else’s. Just because there is a small percentage of pre
gnancies does not mean everyone is expecting a child. Look at your own higl
school and don’t tell me that it hasn’t happened there.
I’m not being unrealistic. I realize that these areas exist and there are peo
ple of that description, but I object to how you presented them in your article
Megan’s attitudes are bigoted, and they only perpetuate themselves. I resent
how they were expressed in the article. Is this the article of a truly responsible
journalist? Is this the investigative reporting that the Department of Journa
lism is teaching you? If this is the quality of articles that appear in At Ease
then I’d rather not have an At Ease section at all.
Marcus A. Salinas ’89
A guy named Floor Sweep
EDITOR:
Picture this:
There once was a Mechanical Engineer named Floor Sweep. Becauseof
his incredible talent as a student, he was on a full scholarship which included:
a special dorm, a special dining hall and a special parking space for mechani
cal engineers only. One day, Floor Sweep was walking across the Stonewood |
parking lot when he encountered three student athletes named Bar, Clayand
Manvoigt.
. Clay was a member of the women’s golf team, and Bar was a very impor-1
tant player on the football team. His participation on the team the nextsea-
son was very important to his coach and himself, being that he was career
minded and a good performance his senior year could land him a positionia
the pros.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Floor Sweep assaults the three ath
letes. Floor Sweep threw Bar against the rear of a car, threw Manvoigt against
an open door and then hit Clay in the face. Bar, the career-minded athlete
sustained a possible career-ending shoulder injury and broken collarbone
while Clay missed several golf tournaments because of her injuries inflicted |
by Floor Sweep.
This is the first and last part of the one-part series: STEREOTYPING
PLAGUES A&M MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
Steve Ihnen ’89
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit lelttn
for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must besig
must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
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and it could theoretically lead tos
kind of “baby-for-profit” industry,b
a woman has the right to herbodyj
Roe asserted) then she should have!
right to choose to bear a baby forsooJ
one else, and to be compensated. I|
court did not address whether thesl
rogate mother should be able to ad
money for medical expenses,
would assume that there are no led
problems with that.
But being pregnant involves
than medical bills. It is a responsibi
and an inconvienience, no matterli
you look at it. It sometimes cankee.
woman from working, especially ini
later stages when moving around isi
ing and difficult. Some monetary!
pensation f or this does not seem ton
to he unreasonable.
Some couples simply cannot
children normally, and getting at
through adoption takes years of waitiad
Ads run regularly in The Battalionl;,
I’m sure in other college papers),f
by couples who are trying to finds
one who can provide them withal
“Happily married financiallysecurj
couple wants to adopt white newboirl
Expenses paid.”
The need is there. And if givings
kind of compensation to surrogaij
mothers will help to fill that need,ik|
outlawing it seems unfair.
Amy Couvillon is a senior jour,
major, city editor and columnist I
The Battalion.
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