Surrogacy reinforces the classic Western patriarchal view that the woman is the passive incubator of the man’s sperm. She receives it from him and gives a baby back to him. Judge Harvey Sorkow has said: “At birth, the father does not purchase the child. It is his own biologically genetically related child. He cannot purchase what is already his.” According to this twisted logic, based on the idea of the supremacy of the sperm, Baby M has only one parent, the father, and the mother’s genetic and nurturant contribution and the experience of birth are ruled out of the picture. According to the contract, “Mary Beth Whitehead understands and agrees that in the best interest of the child she will not form or attempt to form a parent-child relationship with any child or children she may conceive.” The mother is reduced to a container to be used for the development of “his” progeny.
It is not a surprise that surrogacy contracts set up an enormous surveillance system for controlling women’s lives. The woman has to agree not to smoke, drink, or use any drugs during pregnancy. She is bound to obey all medical instructions of the
