Implications of surrogacy discussed at Life Network Foundation conference

Legalising surrogacy would start a slippery slope towards a modern variation of “ladies and maidservants”, a pro-life speaker from The Netherlands said yesterday at a conference on changes to the Embryo Protection Act. Esme Wiegman-van Meppelen Scheppink, director of the Dutch Patient Association and former MP for the Christian Union party, questioned whether a surrogate mother would retain her autonomy, and the extent to which the prospective parents could impose lifestyle choices or medical procedures. The conference was organised by the Life Research Unit, part of the Life Network Foundation, on the theme of “social, psychological and legal implications of surrogacy and gamete donation”. Dr Wiegman said there were questions over whether there could be any informed consent over the decision to become a surrogate, as there was no way of ensuring the woman was free from economic pressures (in the case of commercial surrogacy) or emotional coercion shaping her decision. Dismissing any comparison to adoption, which she said was about finding the best solution for an existing child rather than creating a new child, Dr Wiegman also warned that it was “inevitable” that organised...