Should Spain legalise surrogacy?
Although there are no official figures, experts estimate that the number of Spanish couples looking for surrogate mothers abroad is greater than those looking for children to adopt. The liberal Ciudadanos party has now launched an initiative for surrogate motherhood to be legalised in Spain. The country's media point to ethical concerns.
Impose ethical limits on what is doable
Not everything that is possible should also be put into practice, El Periódico de Catalunya points out:
“The defenders [of surrogacy] point to personal freedom. And this argument can't be ignored. But the responsibility of society is also clear. How to monitor the altruistic nature of the process? … It's very difficult to believe that any healthy woman without economic problems would decide to go through the process of motherhood out of pure generosity. And even if that were the case, can we ignore the social transcendence of this private decision? Wouldn't we be crossing the final frontier in the objectification of women? And a final question: can we face the idea of not always getting what we want, even if we have the means to achieve it?”
Market rules must not apply for the human body
The feminist slogan "My body belongs to me" should not apply for the issue of surrogate motherhood, El País demands:
“There's a lot of consensus among experts about the existence of a market for egg cells that has all the characteristics of a buying-and-selling space and commercialisation. … Up to now market rules haven't been associated with the value of the human body. … International law forbids trading in organs. Does my body belong to me? In the sense of my having complete autonomy to chop off a finger if I want to, yes. What society should forbid is that I sell it. Or do we want to apply the worst rules of globalisation to the reproductive bioeconomy?”