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Surrogate Mother Aborts
Unborn Baby Diagnosed with Down Syndrome
Part Two of Four By Liz Townsend An unborn baby being carried by a surrogate mother in British Columbia, Canada, died by abortion after doctors diagnosed Down syndrome. The surrogate initially refused when the biological parents insisted the baby be aborted, but she eventually had the abortion when it was determined she would have to raise the baby herself if she went against the parents' orders, according to the National Post. The sad story was related by Dr. Ken Seethram at the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society annual meeting October 1. Seethram, of the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Vancouver, discussed the incident in terms of the contract between the surrogate and the parents and whether more government oversight is needed, the Post reported. Others saw the inherent dangers in reducing human life to a contractual transaction. "Should the rules of commerce apply to the creation of children? No, because children get hurt," bioethicist Juliet Guichon of the University of Calgary told the Post. "It's kind of like stopping the production line: 'Oh, oh, there's a flaw.' It makes sense in a production scenario, but in reproduction it's a lot more problematic." Seethram gave no identifying details about the adults involved, but did say it occurred within the past year, according to the Post. The surrogate received an embryo created from the biological parents' egg and sperm. An ultrasound during the first trimester showed evidence of trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. After another test seemed to confirm the diagnosis, the biological parents told the surrogate to abort the baby, the Post reported. Seethram said that the adults had not seriously considered the possibility that the baby would have Down syndrome. "They were certainly quite shocked," he said, according to the Post. "Obviously, [the parents] had come on a long journey before commissioning the surrogacy, [but] all they were thinking about was success." Vancouver lawyer Larry Kahn said that "contracts usually absolve the parents of responsibility when a defect is found and the surrogate refuses an abortion," according to the Post. However, he added that if it were tested in court, a judge might not uphold it--but he was not aware of any cases that have challenged such a contract. The contract in Seethram's case followed this formula, and the surrogate would have had to care for the child had she gone against the parents. Although Seethram suggested that the contract "undermined the surrogate's right to make decisions in a 'non-coercive' environment," the Post reported, the surrogate did not contest the contract in court. Feeling unable to raise the baby herself, she aborted the baby. This case demonstrates once again the ethical problems that surround advances in the technology of human life. "The B.C. case is a reminder that sober thought needs to be given to the possibilities that the technology developed has opened up, including the pitfalls of surrogacy," according to an editorial in the Calgary Herald. "What needs to be kept uppermost in mind while sorting through the moral and ethical ramifications of the complex scenarios in vitro fertilization has engendered, is that a human being--not a commodity or product--is the subject matter." Please send your
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