A piece in The New York Times about the surrogate motherhood industry focuses on an agency that was “unregulated.” In truth, no regulations or level of accountability can correct the abuses of gestational trafficking and the very existence of this business, which would be illegal in many countries, is a crime. Notice the sense of entitlement by those who pay for surrogacy:

Jonathan C. Dailey, a lawyer in Washington, wired Planet Hospital $37,000 in December 2013, the first installment on a contract for a single mother in Mexico to carry his child. He and his fiancée flew to Cancún to leave a sperm deposit at the clinic that would create the embryo and to visit the downtown house where their surrogate would live while pregnant. They picked a “premium” egg donor from the agency Planet Hospital sent them to. But nothing happened.

“It was just outright fraud,” said Mr. Dailey. “It’s like we paid money to buy a condo, they took the money, and there was no condo. But it’s worse, because it’s about having a baby.”

The emerging Planet Hospital story, which Mr. Rupak characterized as one of mismanagement rather than fraud, stands as a cautionary tale about the proliferation of unregulated surrogacy agencies, their lack of accountability and their ability to prey on vulnerable clients who want a baby so badly that they do not notice all the red flags.

— Comments —

Kristor writes:

The Times is right about one thing: this surrogacy industry needs a lot more regulation from the government. That would fix all the problems. If it doesn’t, well then obviously even more regulation will be needed.

One thing is for sure: if you regulate things enough, why then there won’t be any problems left.

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