Surrogacy would God approve?

Question

My niece who is 21 has been told she is not allowed to have children (she was born with 2 main aorta valves and has had 2 open heart surgeries) the pregnancy will put a strain on her heart and could cause her to have a heart attack.

My daughter, (who only wants 2 children), after she has her next child has offered to be a surragate mother for my niece so she can become a mother, they are very close, like sisters

Would God approve or not?

Answer 1

this is the most beautiful thing anyone can do for another in my opinion
I am sure God would say so also

Answer 2

Wanzana is right, Sara did use Hagar to give Abraham his first born, because she believed herself to be baren.

And it is a beautiful sacrifice if she can handle carrying a child for nine months and then allowing another woman to raise it.

I don't beleive it's a sin, but I would worry about the family dynamics. What if your niece and daughter end up having different views on discipline, or education, etc. Is your daughter willing to concede that your niece can make decisions for this child that your daughter has cariied and born? That would be very hard for me. Hats off to your daughter if she can pull it off without hard feelings on either side.

Answer 3

Who can know the mind of God? I know, it sounds like a trite, throw-away line, but it's true. The various Christian denominations probably have teachings on this... I have a feeling that the Roman Catholic Church would oppose it because it falls outside of their very narrow parameters surrounding sex and conception. But what would God say? I dunno.

If your niece, daughter, and their husbands (making an assumption here) have all really thought and prayed this over, then that's the best they can be expected to do. Even if God was to frown on this, I can't imagine an all-loving God punishing people for making the best choice they could in such a difficult and unusual situation.

Answer 4

Why not adopt a child that has already been conceived and born instead of this? (Just wondering.)

Personally we suffered infertility (12 years) and conceived naturally after we finally gave up.. I wouldn't have gone for surrogacy, I don't believe it would be right.

However, do I think God would approve, I cannot answer that.. I would suggest a lot of honest prayer.

Answer 5

God would not approve. Surrogacy is "gravely immoral". The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

The gift of a child

2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church's traditional practice see in large families a sign of God's blessing and the parents' generosity.163

2374 Couples who discover that they are sterile suffer greatly. "What will you give me," asks Abraham of God, "for I continue childless?"164 And Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!"165

2375 Research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged, on condition that it is placed "at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, and his true and integral good according to the design and will of God."166

2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, SURROGATE uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses' "right to become a father and a mother only through each other."167

2377 Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children."168 "Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses' union . . . . Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person."169

2378 A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents," and "the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception."170

2379 The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.

Answer 6

Everyone is answering wha they, your main question asked what the Church said here it is from official Catholic letter on the the Respect for Human life (Donum Vitae, 1987) :

Is "Surrogate"* Motherhood Morally Licit?

No, for the same reasons which lead one to reject artificial fertilization: for it is contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person.

Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity and of responsible motherhood; it offends the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; it sets up, to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.
_________

*By "surrogate mother" the Instruction means:


the woman who carries in pregnancy an embryo implanted in her uterus and who is genetically a stranger to the embryo because it has been obtained through the union of the gametes of "donors." She carries the pregnancy with a pledge to surrender the baby once it is born to the party who commissioned or made the agreement for the pregnancy.


the woman who carries in pregnancy an embryo to whose procreation she has contributed the donation of her own ovum, fertilized through insemination with the sperm of a man other than her husband. She carries the pregnancy with the pledge to surrender the child once it is born to the party who commissioned or made the agreement for the pregnancy.


why does she not adopt?

Answer 7

I am sure that God would rather have a child born by a surrogate
than to put your nieces health in danger.

Answer 8

As I have no first hand knowledge of what God would or would not approve of...I would suggest that if she is a believer...that she ask God. He will lead her. Perhaps he already is. Mary (the mother of Jesus) was in some sense...a surrogate was she not?

Answer 9

i do no longer understand if he could or no longer yet jesus pronounced, "extra beneficial love hath no guy than to place down his existence for his chum." isn't that what your daughter is doing? she is risking her existence for her cousin to offer her a newborn that she can't have. you have a appealing daughter and god approves of her selflessness. the bible says jesus poured out himself for others and your daughter has agreed to do the comparable. be a supportive aunt and mom and which would be a recent to them the two!

Answer 10

In my opinion, I think it is the most unbelievable thing one human can do for another...I am VERY sure GOD would approve of this...It is truly a wonderful thing.
And honestly I would do it myself if I could...

Answer 11

I think if you check it was a common practice in OT when a woman could not have a child, read about Sarah and Abraham, they had one thru Sarah's Slave