Uterus Transplants May Soon Help Some Infertile Women in the U.S. Become Pregnant (New York Times, November 12, 2015)
Author Denise Grady quotes Dr. Andreas G. Tzakis, the director of solid organ transplant surgery at the Cleveland Clinic on the ethics of uterine transplant (which he considers superior) versus surrogacy: “You create a class of people who rent their uterus [sic], rent their body [sic], for reproduction. . . It has some gravity. It possibly exploits poor women.”
Many things have the potential for exploitation. This does not mean that surrogacy, as it is practiced in the US, is actually exploitative. Although this new surgery is an exciting, new field for transplantation surgeons, it has the potential to exploit women by having them undergo unnecessary, dangerous surgery when there are safer alternatives, such as surrogacy.
