SB 162 would make surrogate motherhood contracts enforceable in
Louisiana courts for married couples. Smith argues this from his own personal experience
in the matter, saying that under the present unregulated system that couples
whether married in the state can contract for this service but the contracts
can be abrogated without penalty. Even after successful birth, then adoption
must occur as the child legally is the mother’s who bore him, costing time and
money.
Most states regulate the practice, and this version has drawn
opposition. One complaint is that it precludes unmarried couples from falling
under the new legal protection. But it makes no sense for this to occur in
anything but a marriage between one man and one woman. Same-sex unions by
definition cannot produce children, and why should the state support an attempt
between a man and a woman not married to each other when the state recognizes
and subsidizes through policy marriage as a means to reproduction?
However, an objection with substance is that surrogacy as a concept creates
moral difficulties. The process not only puts human life at risk, because multiple
embryos may be used in the process causing their destruction by unnatural and
artificial means, but also, as elegantly explained in the Roman Catholic Church’s
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Donum
Vitae, it tears at the very fabric of the idea of unity expressed in
marriage. Catholics are instructed not to condone or to participate in its
practice.
Jindal is a practicing Catholic and as such is bound to follow this moral
directive of his faith. While the role of conscience is important in moral
decisions for a Catholic, and Jindal neither is participating in nor assisting a
direct instance of this behavior in a decision to sign or allow the legislation
to become law, which could allow him conscientiously to act in this manner, the
most reasoned decision would be for him to veto the bill.
A veto would not impose the moral judgment of illegitimacy on the
practice as it simply would leave the state disconnected to the practice. It
would not be outlawed and individuals of married status or lack of it would be
free to pursue the matter. While bureaucratic procedures may be more cumbersome
this way, the practice would continue legally even if in Louisiana contracts would
not involve a juridical element. And if this discourages couples who have demonstrated
willingness to raise children not entirely biologically their own, adoption is
another method where a child not gestated by the woman may become theirs to
raise.
No comments:
Post a Comment