The Moral Legitimacy of Surrogacy
Word count - 2897
1.0 Introduction
“Surrogacy is one of an array of reproductive methods that are now available to people with
enough money” (The Economist, 2021). 21st-century medical improvements now enable parents that
are unable to have children themselves or do not want to bear the risk, to be granted options like
surrogacy. The market for surrogacy is growing rapidly as “the industry, worth $6bn globally in 2018,
is expected to reach $27.8bn by 2025, according to Global Markets Insights, a market-research firm”
(Economist, 2021). However, paid surrogacy creates a trade-off for poor women to bear the risks and
burdens of pregnancy in exchange for monetary compensation, which leaves poor women vulnerable
to exploitation. Noticeable is that the role of money in surrogacy is becoming more evident as the rich
are ending up being the buyers, and poor women in less developed countries are the sellers. From an
ethical point of view, to what extent is surrogacy morally legitimate?
Structured with an introduction, theoretical background, analysis and conduction section, this
paper focuses on and discusses to what extent surrogacy is morally legitimate in the style of a
literature review based on academic texts. Important factors for this research analysis are the effects
of markets and incentives on behaviour, noxious markets, and the pluralistic ethical framework. This
results in the following sub-questions: What effects do markets and incentives have on behaviour? Is
surrogacy a noxious market? And what is the pluralist ethical framework of surrogacy?
2.0 Theoretical background
The theoretical background seeks to inform the reader about the theories of the factors
relevant to this analysis. The first factor up for discussion is a pluralistic ethical framework. Wight
argues in his paper “Economics within a Pluralist Ethical Tradition”, that economic actors regularly
act on duty and virtue and since no single ethical approach is complete, ethical pluralism allows a
more complete answer (Wight, 2014). Therefore, to tackle this research question, a pluralistic ethical
analysis with the three main ethical frameworks: Utilitarianism, Deontology, and virtue ethics are
conducted in this essay.
2.1 Pluralistic ethical framework
According to Wight, ethical pluralism has two meanings, the first being the divergence of
theories across ethical domains, also known as vertical pluralism. The second is horizontal pluralism,
which refers to the divergence of theories within ethical domains (Wight, 2014). The first theory,
Utilitarianism, strives for the outcome that would bring the greatest sum of utility or happiness to
society (Cowen & Tabarrok, 2018). This means that we base our decisions solely on the outcome that
delivers the greatest utility or benefit. The second theory, Virtue ethics, covers the honesty and
morality of a person (Wight, 2014). According to Wight (2014), virtue ethics is person-based rather
Word count - 2897
1.0 Introduction
“Surrogacy is one of an array of reproductive methods that are now available to people with
enough money” (The Economist, 2021). 21st-century medical improvements now enable parents that
are unable to have children themselves or do not want to bear the risk, to be granted options like
surrogacy. The market for surrogacy is growing rapidly as “the industry, worth $6bn globally in 2018,
is expected to reach $27.8bn by 2025, according to Global Markets Insights, a market-research firm”
(Economist, 2021). However, paid surrogacy creates a trade-off for poor women to bear the risks and
burdens of pregnancy in exchange for monetary compensation, which leaves poor women vulnerable
to exploitation. Noticeable is that the role of money in surrogacy is becoming more evident as the rich
are ending up being the buyers, and poor women in less developed countries are the sellers. From an
ethical point of view, to what extent is surrogacy morally legitimate?
Structured with an introduction, theoretical background, analysis and conduction section, this
paper focuses on and discusses to what extent surrogacy is morally legitimate in the style of a
literature review based on academic texts. Important factors for this research analysis are the effects
of markets and incentives on behaviour, noxious markets, and the pluralistic ethical framework. This
results in the following sub-questions: What effects do markets and incentives have on behaviour? Is
surrogacy a noxious market? And what is the pluralist ethical framework of surrogacy?
2.0 Theoretical background
The theoretical background seeks to inform the reader about the theories of the factors
relevant to this analysis. The first factor up for discussion is a pluralistic ethical framework. Wight
argues in his paper “Economics within a Pluralist Ethical Tradition”, that economic actors regularly
act on duty and virtue and since no single ethical approach is complete, ethical pluralism allows a
more complete answer (Wight, 2014). Therefore, to tackle this research question, a pluralistic ethical
analysis with the three main ethical frameworks: Utilitarianism, Deontology, and virtue ethics are
conducted in this essay.
2.1 Pluralistic ethical framework
According to Wight, ethical pluralism has two meanings, the first being the divergence of
theories across ethical domains, also known as vertical pluralism. The second is horizontal pluralism,
which refers to the divergence of theories within ethical domains (Wight, 2014). The first theory,
Utilitarianism, strives for the outcome that would bring the greatest sum of utility or happiness to
society (Cowen & Tabarrok, 2018). This means that we base our decisions solely on the outcome that
delivers the greatest utility or benefit. The second theory, Virtue ethics, covers the honesty and
morality of a person (Wight, 2014). According to Wight (2014), virtue ethics is person-based rather
