SOC425H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Aying, Critical Role, Infor
Document Summary
Generally, a surrogate is defined as a substitute or a replacement, implying thatthe surrogate is a subs titute mother. Although the phrase "women who give birth for pay" may be preferred over theterm "surrogates," in th is article i use "surrogacy" and "surrogate" forpurposes of brevity and clarity. The women refer to one another as "surrogate mothers," and when i explainedwhat the term "surrogat e" meant in english, most agreed that the descriptionwas fitting. For most of the surrogates" families, the money earned through surrogacy wasequivalent to almost five years of total family income, especially since many ofthe surrogates had husbands who were either in inf ormal contract work or wereunemployed. Although surrogacy as a process is an ethical quagmire in almost all countries, surrogates are not usually stigmatized. In india the surrogates face a high degree of stigma. Former surrogates, women who could not become surrogates for medicalreasons, and midwives often b ecome brokers in this trade.
