Spiritual Consequences

SOUTH BELOIT, Ill. — Newborn Sara's story shows how the definition of family is being reshaped by science and the yearning for parenthood. Jen Betts, 26, is a gestational surrogate. Sara's fathers, Doug Metcalfe and Brian Lahmann, are a gay couple. Sara is the result of an anonymous donor's egg and sperm from one of the fathers; they haven't even told their families which one. The embryo was transferred to Betts by in vitro fertilization. Since 1976, there have been about 25,000 surrogate births in the USA, says Shirley Zager of the Organization of Parents Through Surrogacy, a non-profit national support group. A few states ban paid surrogacy, she says, and the use of surrogates by gay couples is rare but growing.

Surrogacy is complicated by emotions and debates about law and morality. Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, says it raises ethical questions: Do parents have a right to control surrogates' exercise and alcohol or drug consumption? How do surrogates and parents feel a decade later? Should surrogates get visitation rights? "Most people would say, 'Wait a minute. If you can buy an egg and buy sperm and buy a uterus, aren't we doing baby-buying?' " he says. "Is that right?" Surrogacy could lead to genetic engineering, says Herbert Krimmel, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles who has written about the issue. "I don't think it's appropriate to create a child for compensation," he says. He believes the practice is "potentially very psychologically damaging to the child" and the surrogate.

• JJ Commentary: When we disrupt the natural order with our vain attempts to play god, societal consequences will surely follow: “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.” (Gal. 6:8). This isn’t judgment, it’s God’s law