Justice 公平

Name: Joseph Wu Yongcheng

Chinese name:吴永成

Student number: 0111126043

Pregnancy For Pay

1. Introduction.

It began with William and Elizabeth Stern, a professional couple wanting a baby but they couldn't have one on their own, at least not without medical risk to Mrs. Stern. They went to an infertility clinic where they met Mary Beth Whitehead, a 29-year-old mother of two, the wife of a sanitation worker. She had replied to an ad that The Stern had placed seeking the service of a surrogate mother. They made a deal. They signed a contract in which William Stern agreed to pay Mary Beth Whitehead a $10,000 fee plus all expenses in exchange for which Mary Beth Whitehead agreed to be artificially inseminated with William Stern's sperm, to bear the child, and then to give the baby to the Sterns. Well, you probably know how the story unfolded. Mary Beth gave birth and changed her mind; she decided she wanted to keep the baby. The case wound up in court in New Jersey. So let's take, put aside any legal questions, and focus on this issue as a moral question.

2. Discussion.

Obviously, there are two perspectives raised from the moral question. Most of people may agree to accomplish the contract. The one who makes the contract voluntarily should unconditionally obey it. The holiness of the contract can’t be break. In this case, the feeling of the mom has no effect on this deal, a made deal. But someone holds the opposite views states that the bond between the baby and mom can’t be destroy by a piece of contract. Some mom can’t predict how they feel after giving birth to the baby, who is what we called ‘Change of circumstances’. Furthermore the baby owns the right to have its own mom, the bond based on blood relationship surpasses all the contract relationship, some moral aspects of the society should not be penetrated by the market.

3. My View

As far as I am concerned, canceling this contract seems to be a good way. First, we should consider if the contract came into effect, means that we have to look back to see what is the situation when the mom made her decision. Obviously she was not forced to sign the contract, but actually she lacked enough information to know how she could be after pregnancy. Under the contract the natural mother is irrevocably committed before she knows the strength of her bond with her child; she never makes a truly voluntary informed decision for any decision prior to the baby's birth is, in the most important sense, uninformed. The contract includes nothing about this aspect, so she is