Pope Francis this week expressed his hope for a global ban on surrogacy, a practice he described as “deplorable.” The next day, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops echoed his statement saying that surrogacy, in their view, does a “grave injustice” to everyone involved. The denunciations of surrogacy from the pope and the U.S. bishops brought back memories of me navigating the world as a 40-year-old Christian ethicist, and a married mother of two, who agreed to become pregnant for my friends.
The denunciations of surrogacy brought back memories of me as a 40-year-old Christian ethicist, and a married mother of two, who agreed to become pregnant for my friends.
My mom, a conservative evangelical, didn’t articulate the same objections the Roman Catholic Church has voiced for decades (against any practice separating conjugal union from procreation whether or not money changes hands) but she nonetheless pronounced that surrogacy is not the way God wants us to bring children into the world.
She also wondered why my friends didn’t “just adopt.”
The truth is that during their decadelong struggle with infertility, my friends had pursued adoption. They were never picked. Their experience, and those of others, showed me that adoption isn’t universally accessible to those who long for children. Nor is it always morally unambiguous.
So, some eight years ago, I joyously gave birth to their baby girl. And, to the surprise of some, it was my progressive Christian faith that gave me the courage to do so.
The Taiwanese evangelical church in which I was raised had already primed me to associate Christianity with the provision of health care, given that the first Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan also established the first Western medical institution there.
I later joined the Presbyterian Church (USA) largely because of its social witness policy. I have appreciated the PCUSA’s valuation of both science and conscientious discernment in decision-making on sexual and…
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