stealing from the unborn
There are a zillion ghastly stories about the Global Economic Meltdown, and many of them resolve into crime, chicanery and sociopathic selfishness. But this one took my brain sideways and shook it for a moment.
In the US, surrogacy is legal, and parents pay for other women to carry their baby to term, and give it up. They put this money in a trust account, and a cheque is sent to the pregnant woman each month. These businesses are not licensed.
As the website for Surrogenesis USA, INC, says.
“We are dedicated to assisting infertile couples to have a baby through third-party assisted reproduction. In most cases, by the time people decide to look into surrogacy, or egg donation, they have been through a lot emotionally and financially. Our goal at SurroGenesis USA, INC. is to help guide you through each step of this delicate process, making each step as simple as possible, and making this journey to parenthood an enjoyable experience.”
How the invasive medical procedures of surrogacy can possibly be “an enjoyable experience” eludes me. You might also get the feeling that the emotions of the childbearing mother in this are a bit absent. But, there is a link to this, for volunteering surrogates:
“We are all experienced in the the third party reproduction process whether we be surrogate mother, egg donor, intended parent or parent. We will make this process as smooth as possible for you and your intended parent(s)…
….Payments are made according to contract and are automatically sent on their payment due date. SurroGenesis USA, INC. was started by surrogate mothers who understand the importance of prompt payments when it comes to your own family and taking care of the child growing within you. The president of SurroGenesis USA, INC. was in the business world before becoming a surrogate mother so solid business management practices protect both the surrogate mother’s cash flow and the Intended Parent(s) investment.”
That is an interesting claim – “started by surrogate mothers..” The company certainly understands that surrogate mothers may be short of cash.
“We don’t want you to miss your OB/GYN appointment because you could not afford to fill up your gas tank and we don’t want you to stop taking your prenatal vitamins because you did not have the cash that week for them.”
But you can’t forget that you are providing a service, and you are not allowed to damage the product.
“The surrogate mother will also be tested for STDs and communicable diseases and for life insurance establishment the surrogate will be tested for Nicotine (Cigarette use et al) and illegal drugs. The intended parent also has the right to test at anytime during the pregnancy for Nicotine or illegal drugs. Cigarette smoking can cause birth defects and premature birth with its inherent risks.”
Lest you forget that the baby is a commodity to be delivered by the twin miracles of science and capitalism, the site tells us that s/he is disposed of according to a will, if both parents die during the surrogate pregnancy. Missing is any explanation of what happens if the surrogate mother decides to hang on to the baby she has just given birth to. By Californian law, she has no rights at all.
It now seems that a Californian company that holds these trust funds has stolen the cash, and left a bunch of bereft parents, and pregnant women with no income and no way of paying for medical costs.
“.. Some pregnant surrogates say they have been left with no assurance of payment. One surrogate who recently had a caesarean section is owed nearly $14,000 and has not yet been cleared by her doctor to return to work, according to her case manager at one of the firms, SurroGenesis USA….
….According to the payment schedule listed on the SurroGenesis website, prospective parents paid the company a $12,000 fee.
The company also required payment to surrogate mothers of at least $18,000, as well as legal fees and money for maternity clothing, medical care and other expenses that add thousands to the bill.
To pay those costs, SurroGenesis recommended that prospective parents set up trust funds administered by the Michael Charles group, clients said Friday…
…[Tonya] Collins is listed in company papers as president and chief executive of SurroGenesis and a director of the Michael Charles group..
… Jack Kiserow, president of the Michael Charles group and one of SurroGenesis’ directors, told The Times that he is cooperating fully with federal agents.
“We know who the guilty party is,” he said, adding that authorities need to be given time to do their jobs.
…The money that families are concerned about totals at least $2 million, according to attorneys working with couples and surrogates, who come from across California, elsewhere in the United States and Europe and China..
….One surrogate, Natash McDuffy, 33, of Houston, is on doctor-ordered bed rest, eight months pregnant with twin girls. She said that she waited for her $2,800 monthly check from SurroGenesis to arrive early this month but that it didn’t come.
The bills quickly started stacking up. Her landlord sent her an eviction notice. And her family’s budget became tighter because she said her husband lost his postal service job in January and she had been unable to work since February. A replacement check sent by the prospective parents arrived Friday, she said.
“How dare they take a special moment like this?” McDuffy said, referring to the companies. “The parents are already stressed.”
And here is a detail from the NYT -
“Among some 70 people affected by the SurroGenesis shutdown, Denise Williams, 27, a mother of three in Ceres, Calif., is scheduled to deliver twins on May 15 by Caesarean section.
The couple in Italy for whom she is carrying the twins has lost $27,000, Ms. Williams said, but is sending her money to help cover expenses.”
One of the companies providing the conception service, Extraordinary Conceptions, has offered a discount to victims.
“Our hearts go out to all those affected. Dreams have been shattered and that is not an understatement. Surrogates are left without insurance while pregnant as bills were not paid. Donors have been left without payment after undergoing weeks of shots and an egg retrieval. And Intended Parents have lost their life savings, and in some cases, money they don’t have as most have to borrow money to afford treatment…
… we at Extraordinary Conceptions and others in the industry are extremely doubtful that Tonya will emerge from this heartbreaking mess as an inocent victim.”
William Saletan at Slate has taken up the issue too -
“Surrogates aren’t mercenaries. But they do need to be paid for their sacrifices. With every week that passes, they endure more of pregnancy’s burdens. They submit to exams, tests, and other procedures. They take on serious medical risks. They forgo activities that might harm the fetus. They lose the ability to commute to and work at other jobs. They have bills to pay. At least one abandoned surrogate says she has received an eviction notice.
If you stop paying your surrogate, she needs to quit and find another job, just like any other worker. But surrogacy isn’t like any other job. The only way to quit a pregnancy is to abort it.
Vorzimer [a lawyer involved in the case] says none of the surrogates are quitting. Many “will not be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses lost wages or even have their medical bills paid,” he reports, but “every single one of them has committed to moving forward.” That’s a different attitude from the one at AIG, where undelivered bonuses are regarded as grounds for walking out. But when you’re carrying a baby instead of a briefcase, the stakes are that much higher.
Vorzimer is using his blog as an information source as the situation develops. It turns out that this is not the first rip-off, and other legitimate surrogacy companies have used the Michael Charles Group to manage payments.
Surrogacy is a rich source for strange stories. A couple of minutes googling found this and this.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
“Extraordinary” indeed. Anyway, as long as we have contract law…
Beyond belief.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
> Surrogacy is a rich source for strange stories.
Indeed strange they are. That said, I’m not convinced those partaking in this racket, on both sides of the birthing canal, are wholly deserving of our human commiseration or sympathy. Empathy, yes, but that’s the extent of it.
Simply said, surrogacy is, or should be viewed as/ judged with the same moral/legal instruments that we reserve for the practices of prostitution. It is after all a type of sale where willing bodies solicit and/or make an offer of their use for other parties in exchange for ‘pecunia non olet’. Except that the final products of these exchanges are living bodies of defenseless newborns and both main parties are women (my, that’s a mitigating factor if any!). Yet in most world cultures the selling of children is universally viewed for what it is – a form of peonage, if not slavery. So why should affluent first-world women or couples, and their penniless but mostly first-world accomplices in surrogacy suddenly be exempted from such condemnation? Having own egg-stock children is not some “right,” natural or otherwise. Wanting own-egg/sperm children that badly that one is prepared to rent/ abuse some other living person’s body for a fee is a form of pathology.
Besides, if a childless/ unable to conceive woman wants an offspring that badly…. what’s wrong with adopting someone else’s unwanted kid off an orphanage, and making sure the world’s seemingly endless supply of child misery diminishes DUE TO OUR ACTIONS by a factor of one (“-1″)?
March 27th, 2009 at 2:31 am
For many people the struggle is to avoid having children, many folks have no interest in having children at all, for either group it is very difficult for them to identify with parents going the GC route.
None of us go down that route willingly. Majority will have invested several years and a lot of cash in medical treatment. Many IPs have experienced one or more premature deliveries. Attending your own kids funeral is not an experinece I would recommend to anyone.
Trying to adopt is also a difficult experinece as well. Given the number of weirdos in this world the process has to be tough, many of us are ineligible by virtue of being over 40.
Also it’s not your biological kid. Part of the reason I admire the work of adoptive parents is they can overcome the primeval pull of the DNA. However please understand for some of us the blood line is all important.
A touch of sympathy for the GCs is also in order. Generally educated middle class women, many are health care professionals. The GC route has it’s charitable angle but for most women its part of their life plan. They do something they enjoy (being pregnant) and get paid for doing it whilst carrying on with their normal life. The money is put to good use. Occasionaly it digs them out of a financial hole usually there is something more positive – pays for eduction, home extension, starts a busines etc.
March 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The idea that there are many babies waiting in foreign orphanages to be picked up by loving Western parents is somewhat of an urban myth. While the children certainly exist in such places, many countries do not allow overseas adoptions, and those that do have strict regulations. Most prefer that at least one parent shares an ethnic background with their adopted child, which for many prospective parents is impossible.