Sold for Parts: Moral Connections between Paid Surrogacy and Paid Organ Donation

Sold for Parts: Moral Connections between Paid Surrogacy and Paid Organ Donation

Alvin Sherman Library

Throughout this presentation, I make ethical arguments about paid surrogacy, based on established arguments regarding paid living organ donation possible due to similarities between the procedures. I establish the differences between conceptualizations of surrogacy: unpaid/altruistic and paid/compensated, and clarify what is meant by paid surrogacy. The primary similarity between paid living organ donation and paid surrogacy is that both practices are a 'voluntary' violation of bodily integrity for financial benefit. I argue that both practices due to financial incentives cannot truly be seen as voluntary. I argue that the reasons that are used to understand paid living organ donation as immoral, can also be extended to paid surrogacy. Lastly, I argue that it is the moral responsibility of an ethical state to protect its citizens from exploitative practices that disrupt bodily integrity, even at the risk of breaching autonomy.