Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Building a Baby, With Few Ground Rules” (“21st-Century Babies” series, front page, Dec. 13):

There are practical, but no moral, differences between surrogacy and other forms of assisted reproduction like sperm and egg sales and in vitro fertilization. All entail the design, selection and commodification of human life. Fertility clinics advertise on the radio, on billboards and in junk mail coupons, vying for the consumer’s dollars.

Reprotech is like allowing some to build homes in Yosemite Valley or on the beaches at Normandy. It pleases the users and their friends and family. But it has cost the culture the last sacred place.

Mark Oshinskie
New Brunswick, N.J., Dec. 14, 2009

Note from KBJ: Here is an issue (there are others, obviously) on which conservatives, liberals, and progressives have different views. Liberals view surrogacy as just another contract, no different in principle from a contract for house repair. Conservatives and progressives would regulate or prohibit the practice, albeit for different reasons. Conservatives are worried about the commodification of children and about adverse effects on marriage and family life. Progressives are worried about the commodification of women's labor and about class-based exploitation.