I have been appalled reading about the raids on so called ‘Baby Factories’ in the media lately. These raids are a throwback to the Salem Witch Trials and I cannot believe that in Nigeria of the 21st Century we are stigmatizing what is an acceptable world wide culture that has brought hope to childless couples all over the world.
For the avoidance of doubt, these women are surrogate mothers who have children for childless couples. Every civilized nation accepts and promotes this practice as a humane option for childless couples. The main reason many childless couples prefer a surrogate mother is because they want to know about the family history and genetics of the mother of their unborn child.
In many cases, when you adopt a child without knowing who the parents are and there arises a need in future for a blood transfusion or an organ donor, many adoptive parents get stuck. Other medical issues like cancer, or behavioral issues like autism and ADD/ADHD are better diagnosed and treated if you have family history, which is not possible with anonymous adoptions. So, the idea of surrogate motherhood fills this gap.
In Europe and the Americas as well as in Asia, surrogate mothers are well sought after and advertisements are placed in bus stations, newspapers, on the underground as well as on the Internet seeking out such women. I have included one such advert in this piece.
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Tens of thousands of surrogate children are born each year in the Americas and even more in Europe. Anyone who has ever experienced childlessness either directly or indirectly through a relative, extended family or friend is likely to appreciate the role surrogate mothers play in bringing succor to such families. To ostracize them and tag them ‘Baby Factories’ is most unfortunate indeed.
Surrogate motherhood dates back to biblical times. Hagar was a surrogate mother to Sarah (see Genesis 16:1-2). Bilhah was a surrogate mother to Rachel (see Genesis 30:4).
Most importantly, Mary was a surrogate mother to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. She carried The Almighty Father’s child for Him after being immaculately conceived by The Holy Ghost. Joseph, her husband, was not the biological father of our Lord and Saviour. “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”-Matthew 1:20. Are we going to criminalize what the Almighty God and the Patriarchs did?
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This is the 21st Century, not the 12th Century. If women freely elect to be surrogate mothers, the government should not stigmatize them! What Nigeria should do is to effectively regulate these establishments to ensure that:
a. These women are not under aged and are there willingly, and
b. The babies go to good homes.
If government wants to show its exuberance, it should direct its law enforcement officials to go after real criminals, such as men who make babies with women and fail to cater for them. That is what civilized societies do! In the West, dead beat dads are chased after by the state and made to pay child support. But to criminalize what should be seen as a mutually beneficial venture is a waste of effort.
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No one is standing up to speak for these unfortunate and innocent women whose only crime is that they are powerless, so I will raise my voice on their behalf. They are doing nothing wrong if all they are doing is having babies for those who cannot have them.
If on the other hand it is demonstrated that they are doing is more than this (such as providing kids to ritualists and occultists), then I will not support it, but that does not seem to be the case and until it is proven otherwise, these women will have an advocate in me.
Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California and the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri (Thursday at 10pm on the Impact Network, Chanel 268 DISH andMonday at 12am on San Framcisco’s KTLN, Chanel 25 on Comcast).
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Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.
6 comments
Hmm. You mentioned Hagar, I didn’t talk. You mentioned Jacob’s concubines, I kept my peace. But please and please do not use use surrogacy to describe the relationship between Mary and Jesus Christ.
surrogate mother
noun (plural surrogate mothers)
– A woman who gives birth to a child not her own, with the intent to give that child up to at least one of the biological parents once it is born.
Jesus was raised by Mary and was the firstbon son of Mary till He was crucified. Thirty-three years is no longer surrogacy.
Of course I heard about surrogacy.
Now Internet, TV and magazines contain a great number of information concerning
assisted methods of reproductive medicine. I thought hard, imagined it and
finally decided. In the Internet I found American clinic with a good comments
and long-term work experience. After a brief correspondence with a clinic’s
worker I made an appointment. Husband at first was a little bit shocked, but
agreed to visit American clinic. It is called Center for Human Reproduction,
New York. After a medical examination, American doctors told us that they can
help us to have children using surrogacy with donor eggs. After my husband was
explained what “donor eggs” means he got angry and said he would
never agree for such procedure. But at the end, I managed to convince him. And
we decided to try in the USA to conduct our first attempt. Great advantage of
surrogacy in America is USA passport obtaining that opens good opportunities in
future. There are no lines, high level of medical services; doctors always try
to achieve a positive result from the first attempt. I also liked the fact that
in America we didn’t need to wait for years for our turn, as it can be seen in
some countries where patients wait for years in order to start the program.
In Czech Republic surrogacy is not regulated by law. There are no legal regulations, which consider surrogacy issue. In spite of this, they conduct such programs. There are good service, clinic, modern equipment, but … due to the fact that there is no relevant law, it is not organized, not confident and we had no guarantee that everything will be fine. After all, if something goes wrong we will not be able to make the case. Nevertheless at our own risk we conducted one attempt, it wasn’t successful and we went came back home. Georgia has become the final nail in the coffin of our patience. We arrived in the Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine being almost unable to believe in a positive result. In Georgia surrogacy is absolutely legal. According to the local law, if a child was born
by a surrogate mother, child’s parents are spouses, but not a surrogate mother.
Clinics of reproductive medicine are great there with talented doctors. Visiting Georgian center we were surrounded by the highest level of medical service, constant care and attention. Beautiful, positive, European level, friendly staff. But there is one problem – for some reason doctors can’t reach positive result. In addition we faced with a problem of Caucasian donor eggs as there are mostly Georgian ones.
Manager was fluent in English and
knew medical theme very well. Reaching Kiev (capital of Ukraine) we were met by
the clinic’s driver at the airport. He
took us to the clinic’s hotel. It was a small, cozy and with all necessary
amenities for comfortable living hotel. And all these, important to note, we
got without paying a penny. The next day the same driver took us to the clinic.
There manager with whom I corresponded met us. She organized all work processes
in the clinic, told us what to do, in short, she was our personal assistant.
Great service, courtesy and professionalism of manager helped us to lift in
spirits. Doctor, examining our medical history, said: “Everything will be
OK. You will leave us with a baby in your arms. ” We were cheered up with
doctor’s words, and we believed that our dream about so long-awaited child will
come true. I will not tell a long story about all the advantages of BioTexCom
clinic, I’ll only say the most important thing – surrogate mother gave birth to
a healthy boy, using donor eggs, from the second attempt. So today we have a
healthy beautiful son. We are happy but husband periodically psyched that son
look like an egg donor. But, in course of time, all these emotions had gone and
we are incredibly pleased with the BioTexCom clinic. Now we know that there is
really no absolute infertility! 😉
I made decision on becoming a surrogate mother not
alone but together with my native people – my family. I have a husband and
7-year-old child. It happened so that my husband was in a bad car accident
therefore he was unable to work for some time. I am a school teacher and my
salary is too small to support family. I even started to give extra tuition in
order to treat sick husband and keep small child, nevertheless there was still money
pressure in our family. I have found Internet advertising that biotexcom clinic
for human reproduction was looking for surrogate mothers. Of course, I have
heard about surrogacy a little, and know general information. Therefore, firstly
I read a lot of different information concerning surrogate motherhood, all the
details. After that I shared my thoughts with a husband. Of course, he did not understand
and support me immediately, but having discussed the whole situation once again
we reached a common ground – I will become a surrogate mother for an infertile
couple from Europe. Having visited the clinic I really liked it.
Doctor examined me, analyzed the blood for transmissible
diseases and I was offered to sign an agreement. All these put me out of
suspense. I became pregnant just after the first IVF attempt. Both biological
parents and I were extremely happy because of this fact. Monthly clinic placed money
to my account in the frameworks of the contract we have signed. Moreover clinic
born all the travel expenses, necessary medicines and tests when I visited
medical center to conduct follow-up examination. I carried pregnancy quite well
and without any complications. My own parents and parents of my husband knew
about surrogacy program I participated in. They were not 100% “in favor”
as elderly people don’t entirely understand such methods. But at the same time they
did not resist. Parents said they would support and help, if it should turn out
to be necessary. And added – “It’s your life and your choice”. I am very
grateful to them for such behavior and support! It was more difficult to
explain own child the whole situation. We consulted a psychologist, and he
helped us to explain this information in an appropriate and correct way to
avoid traumatizing of child’s mentality.