Surrogate Motherhood

by Ragone, Helena

• ISBN13: 9780813319797
• ISBN10: 081331979X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-05-15
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Ever since the Baby M case, the public has been fascinated with the continuing phenomenon of surrogate motherhood. The Baby M case raised, and left unanswered, many questions about what constitutes motherhood, fatherhood, family, reproduction, and kinship. What do the surrogates, commissioning couples, program directors, and attending professionals think and feel about surrogacy? How and when are the children told of their birth origins? How do surrogate mother programs select a surrogate? What psychological tests are administered?Surrogate Motherhood: Conception in the Heartexamines the phenomenon of surrogate motherhood in depth, through the unique perspective of a cultural anthropologist, providing us with answers to these and other questions in a richly textured ethnography. Included in the book are actual surrogate and couple evaluation forms completed by clinical psychologists, confidential surrogate mother information sheets, and the legal contract used by one of the programs.To date, thousands of surrogate-assisted births have taken place, but never before have the experiences of the participants and program staff been explored in such detail. Participants who have never before spoken publicly about their involvement in surrogacy here speak out, and their statements are startling and intriguing. Surrogate mothers and commissioning couples who have suffered the pain of infertility open up their hearts to illuminate the compelling world of surrogacy in which many of our assumptions about nurturance, family, and kinship are reconfigured. The following quotes from surrogates, a father, and an adoptive mother speak to the richness of this text.

Author Biography

Helena Ragoné teaches anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is the coeditor of Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life and Reproducing Reproduction: Kinship, Power, and Technological Innovation. She is currently writing Distant Kin, on gestational surrogacy and ovum donation.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(138)
Surrogate Mother Programs	13	(38)
Surrogate Program Guidelines	15	(7)
Open Versus Closed Programs	22	(16)
Altering Cultural Norms: The Control of Information and the Balance of Power	38	(13)
Surrogate Mothers	51	(36)
Motivational Factors of Surrogate Mothers	52	(16)
Surrogates and Their Couples	68	(5)
Gestational Surrogates (IVF)	73	(2)
Surrogates' Perceptions of the Child	75	(3)
The Smith Program	78	(2)
Post-Birth Experience	80	(7)
Fathers and Adoptive Mothers	87	(22)
Class Differences	91	(2)
Adoption	93	(2)
Couples' Initial Impressions of Surrogacy: The Fertility Continuum	95	(4)
Program Selection	99	(3)
Pragmatists and Egalitarians	102	(7)
Surrogate Motherhood and American Kinship	109	(30)
Surrogate Motherhood and Donor Insemination	114	(6)
Fathers, Surrogates, and Adoptive Mothers	120	(19)
Appendix A Couple's Biographical Sketch for Surrogate Mother	139	(2)
Appendix B Contract	141	(14)
Appendix C Phone Intake Form and Letter to Prospective Surrogate	155	(2)
Appendix D Detailed Application Form for Surrogate Mothers	157	(8)
Appendix E Biographical Sketches of Potential Surrogates	165	(2)
Appendix F Surrogate Mother's Biographical Sketch for Couple	167	(2)
Appendix G Genetic Screening Information Sheet and Questionnaire	169	(6)
Appendix H Phone Intake Form for Prospective Parents	175	(2)
Appendix I Prospective Parents Questionnaire	177	(4)
Appendix J Egg Donor Program	181	(6)
Appendix K Handling of Semen Specimen and Insemination Instructions	187	(6)
Notes	193	(6)
References	199	(8)
About the Book and Author	207	(2)
Index	209