Complete video at: fora.tv Political philosopher Michael Sandel analyzes the moral implications of using poor women in developing countries like India as commercial surrogate mothers. Sandel challenges the audience to debate the ethics of outsourcing surrogacy as a profitable business. —– Harvard Professor Michael Sandel deliveres a speech titled “Markets and Morals” as part of the Chautauqua Institution 2009 Summer Lecture Series. He tackles some of economics’ toughest ethical questions, such as the business of commercial surrogacy and the price of citizenship. – Chautauqua Institution Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught political philosophy since 1980. He is the author of Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (Cambridge University Press, 1982, 2nd edition, 1997; translated into eight foreign languages), Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 1996), Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics (Harvard University Press, 2005), and The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering (Harvard University Press, 2007). His writings also appear in general publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The New York Times.
Ethics of Outsourcing Pregnancy to India – Michael Sandel
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
@jbean0 yeah, i notice that also. Younger people don’t seem to attend lectures like these. Too bad; we could learn so much more.
Again, the surrogate will make more money than she could have for many, many years. She is proud of what she is able to do and considers herself a professional. It IS beneficial for her. She will be able to move up in the world, and she will be helping others. She will be able to buy a home and educate her children. Just because she is poor doesn’t mean she is stupid. And this is a competitive industry. These women volunteer for the task and there are government guidelines in place.
where did survival of the fittest GOO…i guesss the fittest now a days are the rich nations just dictated by the place they were born…
this is beyond any morals and ethics!
God please put INDIA out of its poverty so our women don’t have to do crap like this to feed a their hungry stomach’s…
this way if one have a kidney problem he can buy one from INDIA at low cost…i am sure lots of people will be ready just because of poverty and not out of free will…
@RoadlessPath YOU seem really unread …
If they would be rich, they would do it, no only that they are poor they do it. And you talk like that it all normal and even beneficial. This is unethical!
WHo give a damn about moronic law. you can eat you shit religion and give birth to that demon of you
You act like a pagan devil
Wow look at the crowd! A sea of gray hair!
The surrogate will get more money than she could make in many, many years. She takes pride in her work, and considers herself a professional. With the money she will be able to build a homa and educate her children; without this opportunity she will languish in poverty for years.
Yes, adoption is a decent option, if the government would cut down on the massive regulatory restrictions preventing it. Friends of my family spent $25k trying to finalize their adoption, only to lose their kid to some technicality in an amazingly complicated system.
That is totally untrue,many just chose to have fewer children sometimes..You see we have chooses in our lives…In the West….
My wife and I have 7 sons,the last 2 through IVF.
The fertility clinic we used assisted us due to my wife being in her late 40s.
Our twin boys are beautiful….
That’s crazy the birth mother is carrying another couples genetic child,I have never heard of that happening….. That would kill the baby carrying business in India,if that happened and the media got wind of it… That’s why America is a better place to do this,in a America a contract is a contract… My wife carried our twins through IVF,SHE IS 46.. We contracted a 23 year old girl from the mid west to donate her eggs,she was a cute little blonde with blue eyes…. Our twin boys are beautiful.
The birth mother can really keep the child resulting from an ovary that isn’t hers, from a sperm that isn’t her husband’s, just because she gave birth to it?
Moronic law.
Just for the info….the Indian law does not allow a FERTILE/UNMARRIED/GAY (both Men)/couple to hire a surrogate……Also the surrogate should have already have had at least one healthy child and maximum of three…..
Also, the birth mother can keep the child in case she changes her mind in the last minute…….the payment has to be paid in advance……
I think this method is a boon for all infertile couples…..but adoption may be a nobler route for such people……
You may be right, but I don’t see the world the way you do and it’s hard to fully grasp what you’re saying. Again, not saying ur wrong, just that we have very different world outlooks.
The only reason fertility is lower in the WEST is due to the wide spread use of contraception as well as putting off having children 2 later in life…
We have 7 sons …………..The last 2 through ivf,we gave 8 embryos to a Christian couple in the SOUTH…
We used IVF to have our twins in our 40s,my wife was the birth mother…………..I the genetic father…. We found a 23 year old egg donor that had the traits we wanted to pass on to our children… Bringing life where there was none is a good thing,and who knows maybe be the Europeans can slow or even stop their population slide..
It has nothing to do with western women or indian women per se…The reality is that white women and men are becoming less and less fertile…They need to indigenous, black, brown and yellow women to birth their children because of how fertile our sisters are…They focus on India because white people understand there is a large population of black people there who are struggling under the yoke of globalization and the upper caste desire to be like white people, and they see opportunity…
Contd…
Most people are under nutrition ed compare to the over nutrition ed US people still healthier than US people. I am in US since last 6 years and I am seeing people here in US are physically and mentally more seek than there in India (Specially in Gujarat).
1st of all my intention to tell reality to the people here. I agree that India is undergoing massive industrialization. Their atmosphere is more polluted than in the states BUT ONLY IN METRO CITY AND INDUSTRIAL CITY. Small town and villages are still natural or near to nature. Majority of Indian populations are still living in these small town and villages and enjoying eating three times a day home cooked foods(Not like preservative added frozen in states) and mostly vegetarian. contd…
No it is not a joke. I am from Gujarat, India I know there are mainly three classes of the people like in rest of the world viz. upper(May be over nutrition ed), middle(Balance nutrition ed ) and lower class(mostly malnutrition ed). Mostly in Gujarat middle class women are not orthodox will sometime fill pride to give some one chance to be parents and same time will be eager to earn some money since she need it being middle class.
For your information, India is undergoing MASSIVE industrialization. Their atmosphere is MORE polluted than the ones in the states. Their water and sewage treatment systems are inferior to the ones you have in the states. Indian mothers are no more *fertile* than American mothers. The reason these women want to outsource their pregnancy is because it would interfere with their careers. Since men don’t get pregnant, women who are hell-bent on achieving *EQUALITY* see pregnancy as a drawback
“Women in the western world are less fertile due to chemicals, pollution, eating habits”
Oh, but India is a land of noble savages without pollution, sanitation mismanagement, chemicals, or unhygienic eating habits, where the people are still *one* with nature. Is this a joke?
Secondly, your first paragraph is a straw-man argument. I never made an argument in favor of the things you’re providing counter-arguments for. Reread what I wrote.
Feminism isn’t about becoming a man. It’s about being EQUALITY. Women do not desire male sexual organs, nor do women become lesbians to pose as men. There is so much diversity in the world that if one can’t comprehend this fact, then by simplifying this matter to just sexual organs you’re insulting people’s intelligence.
Women in the western world are less fertile due to chemicals, pollution, eating habits, etc. Outsourcing pregnancies allows them to become mothers. It should be done ethically
Why do you remove my comment ?!
I thought that america is land of free speech
there was no any bad language i use
are you a fraid of truth.