Q&A: Surrogacy and the Status of Women
Surrogacy and the Status of Women
Question
Hello to the honorable Rabbi Michael Abraham,
Should surrogacy be prohibited, if only because of the moral reasons involved — degrading women, turning them into childbearing machines, trafficking in organs / human beings, exploitation, etc.?
Answer
I do not think that in principle it should be prohibited. On the contrary, this is freedom of occupation, and if a woman wants to make money through surrogacy, there needs to be a good reason to forbid her from doing so (by the way, the same applies to prostitution). In practice, however, one needs to know the reality on the ground and see whether women are indeed entering this in a problematic way. I am not familiar with the situation.
Discussion on Answer
Read again what I wrote. The same applies to prostitution in the sense that there too, in principle, it is not right to prohibit it, and a reason is needed in order to do so, because there is a law of freedom of occupation and that is as it should be. If there are other considerations, such as women not working in it of their own will, then that could be a reason. But this requires careful examination, since it is not clear what “not of their own will” means: because of the money? That is true of almost every job. The well-known crime reporter Buki Naeh claims that most of them work voluntarily, including women who could work at something else, because it is relatively easy money and fairly good pay (maybe he is mistaken. I am not familiar with the situation).
What does “the same applies to prostitution” mean? First of all, do you think there is a problem with legislation against prostitution or even pornographic websites? Beyond that, most women who work in prostitution (and some in pornography) are not working of their own free will.