PROPOSAL FOR A MANDATORY HEALTHCARE PROGRAM FOR SURROGATES IN SURROGACY ARRANGEMENTS

Abstract

Background: Surrogacy is controversial. The issue of surrogates’ exposure to legal, ethical, health and social risks has been globally debated, and most literature explores policies and regulations that could be crafted or reconsidered to protect surrogates from such hazards. However, a discussion is lacking on the need for surrogacy healthcare programs (SHPs), although surrogacy has been possible for over four decades. Objectives: This paper aimed to examine the existence (or lack) of SHPs and identify healthcare program needs to protect surrogates from risks in building surrogacy arrangements. Methods: An interdisciplinary, nonsystematic literature review and media content analysis were conducted. Medline (Ovid) and PubMed were searched for articles published between 2012 and 2022. In addition, three search engines, Google, Bing and Yahoo, were used to identify high-profile and landmark cases to supplement the literature review. Results: Seventy-eight articles were retrieved, but only 2 were reviewed. Using the 3 search engines, 53 cases were identified; however, 42 were duplicates, and only 11 were analyzed. The results suggested that SHPs do not exist. High-profile and landmark cases demonstrate a need to educate prospective surrogates. Conclusion: SHPs should be compulsory for prospective surrogates to promote their well-being, and proposals for such programs should be further studied and implemented in healthcare policies.