What Is Surrogacy?
Before we get into the juicy bits about what this book is about, a good place to start is to explain what surrogacy actually is. Traditional surrogacy is when a surrogate uses her own egg, which is fertilised though either IVF or artificial insemination . Gestational surrogacy is when the surrogate carries a foetus that she is not genetically related to which is implanted into the uterus via embryo transfer. Most commonly the foetus is genetically connected to one or both intended parents . Transnational surrogacy is a form of medical tourism when hopeful parents turn to the Global South to engage a foreign surrogate labourer. A glossary of terms can be found in Appendix A. The fees involved vary dependent on what the legal framework is for each country. For instance, in Britain the only permitted arrangement is altruistic surrogacy, where surrogates are only allowed to claim for medical expenses, and no further monetary compensation. Whereas in California, where commercial surrogacy is legal and agencies brokering these services are aplenty, women carrying the genetic offspring for others are rewarded for their services, the process costing in the region of £100,000. Variations in the law and processes will be explained further on and addressed throughout the book.
Reproductive Technologies and the Discourse of Desperation
According to recent population surveys, more women in Britain (Ons.gov.org) and America (Census.gov) are childless in modern times, and fertility is dwindling. The Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority (HFEA) report that between 1991 and 2016 there have been over one million IVF cycles in British licensed clinics, resulting in 20,028 births. Since 2014, frozen IVF treatment cycles have increased by 39%. Since 1978, four decades after the birth of IVF miracle Louise Brown, the European Society of Human Reproduction (ESHRE) claim that over eight million babies have been born through IVF worldwide. Surrogacy is also on the rise, which involves embryo transfer through IVF. A report by Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has revealed that since 2013 surrogacy rates have increased in Britain by 90%, the numbers of Parental Order applications received by the courts having reached in the region of 300 in 2018. However, as CAFCASS highlight, these numbers are not precise, as they are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. A Parental Order is the legal documentation that transfer rights of the child from the surrogate to the IP (intended parents). It is common that one IP has a genetic connection to the child, which differentiates the process from adoption, which the Ministry of Justice claims is continuing a downward turn.
As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1999, 727 gestational carrier cycles were recorded in America which rose to 3432 in 2013. Elsewhere, a UN-backed study in 2012 has revealed that in India, where transnational surrogacy has been hugely popular, there were an estimated 3000 clinics, generating an income of $400 million per year (Choudhary 2015). In 2015 the Indian government banned all international surrogacy arrangements, the bulk of this vast income. The service, which was once open to unmarried couples and single people, gay or straight, is now only available to Indian heterosexual married couples.
Reproduction through the growing commercial surrogacy industry , during a time in history when infertility is on the rise, has become a site for anxiety, a complex issue that has inspired debate from all corners of society. As Miranda Davies (2017) highlights in her work on transnational surrogacy : ‘it is not surprising that for journalists, scholars, rights activists, would-be-parents and indeed anyone interested in the evolution of humankind in the twenty-first century, the popularity of transnational surrogacy has become something of a “hot topic”’ (2017, 1). Such a hot topic has been explored in cultural representations as well as reflected in inconsistent legal frameworks globally. For example, during the period of this research project commercial surrogacy for foreigners has been banned in not only India, but Thailand, Nepal and Cambodia. Altruistic surrogacy is legal in Britain, Australia, Greece, Mexico and Malaysia. This is where the surrogate is compensated not through a fee, but through reasonable expenses. Families Through Surrogacy (Everingham 2017) declares that due to recent legal changes, commercial surrogacy has shifted to Greece, Laos and the Ukraine. This report also outlines that overwhelmingly, whether commercial or altruistic surrogacy, the practice is only available to heterosexual couples—America, Canada, Kenya, Laos and Mexico being the only countries where ‘all’ types of commissioning intended parents are welcome.
The laws surrounding surrogacy are complex, unstable, and continually changing, and ethical debates and news stories continue to make the headlines, primarily with theories of exploitation, tales of hope, heartbreak, lost and won court battles, and denied citizenship cases. One of the most impactful surrogacy reports to break during the development of this project was the Thai surrogacy case in 2014, which dominated global headlines. It was claimed that an Australian couple refused to take home their downs syndrome genetic son Gammy, preferring to keep his heathy twin sister, Pipah. The Thai surrogate mother was given legal custody of Gammy. The drama of the case created a powerful narrative which attracted the global spotlight.
As Sarah Franklin (1990) has argued: ‘popular representations are a powerful force in the social world and cultural construction of reproduction’ (1990, 227). The Gammy news story follows a similar narrative to her analysis of how infertility and IVF treatment was represented in the popular press two decades ago—which indicates not much has changed. In this work she proposes that discourses of desperateness—which she claims are derived from popular romance narratives—are central to these stories, through the structuring of binaries. As she explains: ‘It’s a story of winners or losers, of happy endings for some and hopelessness for others… Most importantly, however, it’s a story of “desperateness”’ (1990, 204). This work provides a core foundation for this book, which I have drawn upon to explore contemporary TV shows with surrogacy storylines, a main component of which includes narratives of infertility.
The Gammy surrogacy story connected with the public through the heart-breaking tale of a woman’s infertility and a couple’s desperation for a child. The winner/loser binary emerged through the divisions of the twins—one healthy, one disabled; one wanted, one rejected. The ending of the story was framed by a twist on the conventional romance narrative —the surrogate fell in love with the baby she was carrying, which the genetic parents didn’t want, and kept him. The genetic parents were portrayed as unfit, and surrogacy as a commercial practice was depicted as unethical, immoral and hazardous to children. It came as no surprise that Thailand changed its surrogacy laws in the aftermath of the media outrage.
Surrogacy on TV—The Selection Process
Surrogacy has captured the popular imagination through its growing visibility in popular culture, particularly over the last decade. Not just through the media spectacle of new stories and celebrities’ personal lives, but through a growing number of popular fictional and reality TV shows.
This book contributes to the field of television scholarship by exploring representations of surrogacy on TV and film , through textual analysis and audience work. To do this, TV shows featuring surrogacy storylines had to be identified an...