[quote]Since that precludes a gay couple ever having a child they have a biological link to, do you not believe gay people have that right?
i don't believe you can turn this into a gay rights issue. It is not. And never will be. It is misguided, at best, to try to spin it as one.
Any time a child is involved, the overriding concern is the best interests of the child. That comes first, always. And only when those concerns are met do you go further. Never, ever, cut the child out of consideration. Not at any point or in any way. The child's interests come first.
If there is a surrogacy law that ensures in every case that the child will always and unquestionably have full access to the two people who gave it all of its DNA, then that is a surrogacy law that might be worth considering. But if that law does not meet that bedrock requirement and with no exceptions, the discussion ends. Period. NO ONE should be legally barred from knowing their own ancestry. There is no acceptable reason for doing that. Egg donor or sperm donor. Put your name on that donation and know that any child created has access to you.
If there is a surrogacy law that additionally ensures that the gestational mother is not abused in the process, not ever, then that is a surrogacy law worth considering. But that will be complex and difficult to do. Perhaps eliminate the fee paid and any other kind of compensation. That should eliminate a lot of abuse. Any woman participating would be doing so voluntarily.
If a woman cannot carry a child to term and her sister or her mother or a trusted friend steps up and does that in her place, that's a beautiful, wonderful, thing for all involved. But if the gestational mother is induced to perform a service for the compensation offered by a paying client, the terms which deal are memorialized in a contract, then no. Absolutely no. No matter how long you argue this, not every woman survives child birth. That risk cannot be compensated by throwing an extra ten grand in, up front. This is not a activity that should ever be offered for sale or purchased by a third party.
So, if you can resolve both of those immense issues, then I have no objection. But right now, R214, you do not impress me as even open to considering the problems.