The Baby Market & Adoption: An Exploration of the Issues   Term Paper ID:27369 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Explores the issue of the developing baby market for adoptive parents. Examines the history of paying for children, including surrogacy, some of the legal issues involved, & the ramification either a fee for services or a price for the child itself.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Explores the issue of the developing baby market for adoptive parents. Examines the history of paying for children, including surrogacy, some of the legal issues involved, & the ramification either a fee for services or a price for the child itself. Paper Introduction: The Baby Market and Adoption: An Exploration of the Issues Introduction The last half of the 20th century has seen a radical change in the way in which human beings in the United States manage their fertility. While most people throughout human history, and even today, have been at the mercy of the fates in regard to fertility, that is no longer the case. Fertility management extends in two different directions. For those who do not wish to have children, birth control and abortion technologies are now extremely effective and relatively safe. On the other hand, for those who are infertile for some reason, but wish to have children, reproductive technologies are more advanced. For those who cannot successfully have their own children, there is Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Timing; 3. 677-697. Harris, M. 682).This is a major exception, which seems to allow for many different kinds ofarrangement, if carefully worded. For example, in the case of Marianne Gati, an Orange County womanaccused of running a baby market, federal agents alleged that the documentsthat she provided to adoption agencies supposedly on behalf of the fathersrelinquishing their rights were frequently forged or signed in Hungary butnotarized in the United States. According to this report, pregnant women are lured to theclinics, which publicize themselves as counseling clinics. However, that seems to be the major issue in a more recent case. The economics of justice. It is as if they were living in a laboratory and had neitherleft it or read anything about the world outside of it for several decades. First, he put considerable effort into obtaining babies in theregion, either from chaotic orphanages or from private parties, and thenarranging private adoptions of them in other countries, primarily Canada.He charged a considerable fee for this service. They are strict aboutwhat kinds of families they will accept as adoptive parents. An article by Professor Margaret Radin in the Harvard Law Review madea clear distinction on this issue (1987). In looking at this fee, it is apparent thatpaying $1 , or even more to a baby-seller represents a good dealeconomically and is also considerably quicker and less stressful for theadoptive parents.Consequences for the Children A recent program on 6 Minutes (November 1 , 1996) dealt with theproblems which can occur for both children and the natural parents whenchildren are kidnapped from their families and provided to adoptive parentsin other countries through a baby market. If it is possible to sell human babies, she isarguing, it is also possible to place a price on any kind of personalattribute, and also possible to establish a market value, or conceivablysell, an adult human being. There maybe thousands of such children from Greece. For example, in 1959, a NewYork magistrate, Stephen S. Meulders-Klein, M.T. New England Law Review, 28, 229-239. The tenor of changes inAmerican legal tradition has been toward greater respect of personhood, andgreater fulfillment of that inalienable right in American society. Increase in illegitimacy. (199 ). Although that might sound cynical, it is often the reality. John MarshallLaw Review, 2 , 715-745. The case seems to be similar for many of the children who were adoptedas babies and young children from Greece. Her arrest was facilitated byfederal agents who indicated that she was not running a legitimate adoptionagency, but was exploiting pregnant Hungarian women and selling theirbabies for as much as $8 , . There are persuasive arguments on both sides of the issue, althoughthose of Posner are not among them. The situation is morally ambiguous, because human beingsare meaning-makers who change the meaning of things over time.Institutions institutionalize meaning, but those are gradually transferredby human reflection and action. Richard Posner has been a foremostexponent of what has been termed the "law and economics" movement which hasemphasized grounding legal decisions and legal principles in utilitarianismand a goal of economic efficiency. Perhaps that could be taken one step further and there couldbe a Baby-of-the-Month, or Baby-of-the-Year model to take advantage of thevagaries of fashion and changing tastes in that particular commodity. However, in the Baby M case, the judgesindicated that even though the surrogacy arrangement was carefullydesigned, it still violated this statute. Williams, P.J. Posner, R.A. Harris (1988) noted, for example, that the supply of adoptable babieshas diminished over time and that it is no longer adequate to meet thedemand of potential parents. In one case study, the young girl had continued to insist to heradoptive parents that her natural parents were not dead. The court noted that the evils inherent in baby selling were"loathsome" and that they include problems with lack of concern for thechild's best interest, the emotional needs of the mother, and the pressureon a financially-pressed woman to sell her child in a way that is notreally voluntary. In looking at some of the history and examples of baby-selling, it will become apparent that it is in these temporarily brokensocieties that the greatest potential for danger seems to exist and themost heart-rending violations of human and children's rights seem to occur.Statutory Law and the Constitution Before discussing the problems and issues in more detail, it might behelpful to look at some of the constitutional issues and some statutory lawon the subject. The court did not deal with the constitutional right to privacy issueswhich have been built up through a number of decisions dealing withprocreation, contraception, and abortion. The regulation of the market in adoptions.B.U. The court, however, found that the surrogacy contract was invalid,primarily for the reasons given by Mrs. Whitehead, although not emphasizingthe mother's constitutional rights to the child's companionship. What then is the recommended course of action? For example, they discussed ways inwhich incentives could be created to encourage white women to produce moreof the desirable white babies, and give them up for adoption, whilecreating a system of disincentives to discourage others from having anexcess supply of undesirable, or lower-quality babies. Interestingly enough, the situation in Greece, like that in ElSalvador, seems related to the political environment of the time. He is not connectedwith any government, or any other agency, except his own foundation, whichhas no overseeing board of directors. He noted that separating childbirth from its earlier meaning, andexpanding the right to choice for women, actually may work against women inthe long run. (1988). Heindicated that this is accepted practice, even for them. There are other issues involved, however, even if parents dolegitimately sign away their parental rights. The question,according to him, focuses on how much the market should be regulated. (1987). In the United States and Canada,there have been periodic scandals about instances of baby-selling, whetherby one individual or a ring of individuals. Empathy withorphaned children in Romania, or need for a child of their own after allelse has failed can be powerful forces that drive people to enter bothillegal and irrational arrangements. Williams noted that the line between fee for services andfee for product becomes blurred even while working with reputable adoptionagencies. Hospital personnel wereable to get away with this, because authority in Greece at that time wasnot often challenged, and most of the parents losing children were ruraland poor. District courtJudge Alicemarie Stotler threw out the most important part of the evidence,ruling that federal agents did not have reasonable grounds to suspect thedefendant when they executed a search warrant at her home (Maharaj, 1996b). Greek Americans fear they may have beenblack-market babies. Their price was less, even though, presumably, theservices that the adoption agency rendered on their behalf were at least asextensive as the services rendered on behalf of other children. Posner believed that baby-selling was an appropriateresponse to the shortage of babies available for adoption. 43). Posner, R. Adoption: the long and costly road. Baby-selling case tossed out.Los Angeles Times, September 21, Part A, page 1. Williams concluded that a baby market already did exist, with pricesreferenced to the quality of the goods available to the customer. However, in looking at legitimate adoption agencies, there are alsoproblems. Much of the case against Davies is based on rumor, innuendo, andperception. In cases of legal adoption, parents must clearly sign away their legalrights to the child, without being coerced, threatened, or duped into suchsigning. On the other hand, there are those who see the problem strictly inrelationship to its moral implications and the way it reflects on our viewof the sacred. Babies for sale: Market ethics and the newreproductive technologies, Journal of Consumer Affairs, December 1, 1991. In allowing baby-selling, or moreunregulated baby markets, that potential for emotional damage and long-termdistress seems even greater. Evidence in O.C. They may not have children available. A group calledConcerned United Birthparents actually is working on making all adoptionunnecessary and limiting its scope in the United States. Political and ethnic minorities may not fare well in a baby-selling market, since they have less power, less money, and less status andinfluence. Finally, families whoreally want children and would give them loving homes may not be able tosucceed at the process. His second activity was developing a village for ex-prostitutes, wherethey could attempt to restore their lives. In adoption, the child or children are made available to those whowish to provide a home and family for one or more children. This was one of thekeys to the federal agents that there what she was doing was illegal,rather than legitimate adoption process. Thecivil war in Greece, which happened during the immediate post-war period,not only made orphans of many children, it enabled lawlessness to flourishand it created factions in villages that had deep hatred for each other.Like El Salvador, political enemies seemed to resort to kidnapping andselling each other's children and babies as part of the process.Consequences for the Natural Parents In the previous section, mention was made of the young woman from ElSalvador who had been stolen from her family as a young girl and sold to afamily in the United States. These are the two human forces that often propelthe adoptive parents into a baby-selling arrangement. It is,to them, simply one form of baby-selling on the open market. At the same time, there is a large supply of infertile couples.According to Hirschman (1991), approximately one of six married couples inthe United States is now infertile, unable to conceive a child within oneyear's time. In eastern Europe,the problem is that ethnic minorities are ill-treated by the government, asis the case with the Hungarians or gypsies in Romania. In other words, Gati apparently wasattempting to circumvent the issue of the birth fathers' rights byproviding false signatures on the legal documents. In addition,there remains the option of adoption. The court also put forth some of the reasons that baby-selling isdeemed against the best interests of the state, and why it is prohibited bystatute. One of the best ways to begin to look at this issue isthrough a specific case. This village was designed tomeet the needs of women from several different ethnic groups, including thedespised gypsies and Hungarians. (1987). However, the special fee scale,which had fees approximately half that of the standard fee schedule, seemedto her to be more of a price system for different quality of goods, sinceit was designed as an incentive system to move less desirable children intofamilies. Biotechnologies and health technologieshave made human body parts, and human fetal tissue the foundation of healthand life for other human beings. There are a number of issues that narrow the choices ofpotential adoptive parents during the contemporary era. Many of those have beendiscussed in regard to surrogacy. As Thorneput it, human beings have become increasingly useful to each other in waysJeremy Bentham never imagined. In other words, according to thisgroup, legitimate abortion already functions to commodify children. He noted that laws that preventpayments to a surrogate place a burden on the married couples' decision toprocreate by surrogacy. (1994). However,there are other interpretations. The fees he charged - $1, or more -were clearly prices for the children, rather than fees associated with anadoption agency or service. The adoption agency was concerned with her preferences, as would bethe case for any marketer seeking to learn the consumers preferences. In other words, the judge did not find that charging a price for thebaby itself, or selling children, was illegal. Maharaj, D. Issues remain controversial, and morallyambiguous, because some people remain vested in the old meanings, whileothers transfer their allegiance to new meanings and new definitions of theway the world operates. Shall not apply to the fees or services of any approved agency in connection with a placement for adoption, nor shall such prohibition apply to the payment or reimbursement of medical, hospital, or other similar expenses incurred in connection with the birth or any illness of the child, or to the acceptance of such reimbursement of by a parent of the child (Mnookin, p. (1991). There is, however, a major exception to this prohibition,stating that the prohibition: . Mnookin, pp. The economics of the babymarket, Journal of legal Studies, 7, 323-35 . Nonetheless, it is quite consistent among the governmentsconcerns, which include the United States, Canada, Romania, and Hungaryitself. Presumably, this could also be applied to issues of baby-selling, of which surrogacy is a subset.The Issues and the Problems In looking simply at the case of eastern Europe, one can recognizemany of the issues that affect people's outlook toward the baby market,both pro and con. This viewpoint does ignore the distinction between human bodies, orhuman body parts, and other kinds of market commodities. According to thatgroup, adoption is essentially, and primarily, designed to serve the needsof Caucasian couples who want Caucasian babies and can afford to treat themlike expensive objects to purchase. (1991). Law Review, 59, 64-72. (1994). As a consequence, the parents did not spend years wondering what hadhappened to the children, but mourned them as dead. Screening of prospective parents; 6. This large group is increasingly willing, and able, to tryanything to obtain a child, using every possible reproductive technology.As Hirschman noted, this is a large and often emotionally desperate marketfor babies. Those who haveactually profited have been the middle-men, those who have facilitated theconnection of poor mother and wealthy or upper-middle-class family. For those who cannotsuccessfully have their own children, there is surrogacy. This, then, he contended, infringed on their rightto privacy. Differences in obtaining parental rights; 2. Petrillo, L. (1981). Market-inalienability. (1995). Apparentlythere was quite a deal of chicanery occurring at that time in Greece, too.The interesting point is that baby-selling was judged to be acceptable. In manyinstances, illness, retardation, and death were the result of the poorsocial services. This and the following are closely relatedissues. Maclean's,1 8, 4 -43. (1983). On the other hand, the Sterns contended that the surrogacy contractwas valid, primarily based on a constitutional right to privacy, whichtheir lawyers indicated allowed consenting adults to make privatearrangements about reproduction according to need. Another option follows the approach of Richard Posner, in which a babymarket is viewed as desirable, although with certain constraints upon it.Through these constraints, according to Posner, the operation of the freemarket would allow for the establishment of more reasonable costs fordesirable babies, allowing even ordinary people to obtain one. However, interestingly enough, he actually gave custody to the Sterns,since Mr. Stern was the natural father by virtue of his contribution of thesperm. Posner and Landes (1978) provided an extensive discussion of theeconomics of the baby market in a controversial article which seemed tosupport a form of economic eugenics. According to a report in Kiplinger's (Bodnar, 1992), theprocess of adopting a child can take up to five years and cost $25, ormore in fees of various sorts. This has occurred without substantial debate about theethical implications of the activities and the meaning of this sacred-for-profane exchange.The Matter of Fees There are two different ways in which costs can, and are, establishedin a baby market. At that point, knowledge of the child ends.This family, and others like them in El Salvador, have turned to the churchand non-profit agencies to help find their children, since there arepolitical issues involved in the kidnappings and the government is not asafe place to approach. In this system, everything becomes commodified, becomes an objectdiscussed in terms of production and consumption, rather than in terms ofmeaning and value. The first important issue to be considered is the rights ofthe natural parents. It is not only in the international realm that baby-selling occurs or becomes problematic. New York UniversityReview of Law and Social Change, Fall, 1985, 715-91 . Bradley (1987), however, made a compelling argument for theallowability of payment to surrogate mothers based in the constitutionalright to privacy that the Supreme Court and others had asserted to exist indecisions dealing with procreation. Under suspicion: John Davies is a hero to someadoptive parents, a baby-selling profiteer to many governments. Laws carefully describing the proofs required for termination ofparental rights before adoption is granted; and, 3. He noted that the two concepts needed to be heldapart in people's minds, and that selling babies was not the same thing asslavery, nor did it automatically lead to slavery. (1978). Posner and Landes (1978) do, however, consider some of theimplications of having a baby market in which consumer preferencesregulated the production of those babies. The several differences include: 1. The case against the woman, Marianne Gati, was further complicated byfederal charges of filing false tax returns, because she had not actuallyreported income from her alleged-adoption business. Baby-selling, on the other hand, is exactly what is sounds like.Potential adoptive parents put up a certain sum of money in order to obtaina product, in this case, a baby. Source of children. (1996b). Los Angeles Times, September 29, Part A, pg. Tissue transplants: The dilemma of the body'sgrowing value, Public Interest, January 1, 199 . On the other hand, forthose who are infertile for some reason, but wish to have children,reproductive technologies are more advanced. The focus here is not generally on the best interests ofthe child and the mother, but on the need of the adoptive parents, with theneeds of the mother, except for financial needs, being essentially ignoredand neglected. 3).According to her, there has been an increase in sacred-for-profaneexchanges relative to babies, in several ways, including babies as spermand eggs, babies as embryos, babies as fetal tissue, and babies as full-term living beings. Maharaj, D. For example, to look at one typical example, John Davies (1995) isconsidered to be a baby-seller by the governments of Canada, Great Britain,the United States, and Romania. . She discussed her own case, in which the dealings with theadoption agency seemed to her already to be more like a market-type ofarrangement. They responded bytaking her to therapy where the therapist told them that the girl had tofantasize perfect parents in El Salvador. Children who were older, handicapped, or black, were deemedless desirable. According to James Michaels (1991), adoption should be completelyprivatized. A recent report alleged thatthere is currently a network of Christian antiabortionists who are engagedin baby-selling. In the following pages, the focus is on exploring the issue of thedeveloping baby market for adoptive parents. The court did affirm Mrs.Whitehead's constitutional right to the companionship of her child, and Mr.Stern's constitutional right to procreate. Boston College International andComparative Law Review, Winter 1983, 29-79. Perhaps it is the conjunction of the two activities that causesconcern to arise. Where have all the babies gone? If making a profit is the definition, then very few agencies are notengaged in baby trafficking" (Wallace, 1995, p. In later discussions, Posner (1987) noted that there actually is legalbaby-selling today, as with legal adoptions, private adoptions in whichmothers give up their children, and surrogate motherhood. For the most part, there are severe emotional repercussions for thesefamilies, and a great sense of loss. (1987). Forbes, 148, 1 . As an example of that, an article byBill Hewitt (1993) discussed the case of ten couples who all agreed tosupport a pregnant woman in the hopes of adopting her child. However, severalgovernments contend that Davies is actually a baby-seller who is primarilyconcerned with meeting the needs of rich Western couples by exploiting poorwomen in eastern Europe.Conclusions, and Recommendations In looking at the history of baby markets, or the selling of youngchildren, there is not much positive to say about it. In most instances, they have considerable money. (1985). She noted that: Sacred resources, entities, or products are culturally viewed as "above" or "outside" the commercial or economic sphere. In addition, to commodify babies is to allow for thepotential for commodify those same babies when they become adults. Poor social services. Hirschman, E.C. He noted that the present adoption system is frequently inchaos, does not really do its jobs, and is often deceptive about itspurposes, means, and ends. Prohibiting payments to surrogate mothers:Love's labor lost and the constitutional right of privacy. Kostandaras, N. These woman, whether in Greece, Romania (Wallace, 1995), orHungary (Maharaj, 1996), are then more liable to be open to approaches fromothers to give up their children, knowing that those children will not beaccepted in their communities and that they will not be able to care forthem appropriately. Many of the legal discussions have also focused on adoption inrelationship to the market economy. Inthis case, a Hungarian-born Canadian citizen is accused of operating a baby-selling ring in the United States. And Landes, E.M. Inother words, commodification of babies allows for the potential ofcommodification of any part of the human body, along with commodificationof the human body as an adult. Schnably, S.J. What they concluded was thatsurrogacy would be allowable if the mother volunteered to provide a babyfor a couple, did not receive any money for that service, and was allowedto revoke her agreement. Inessence, those prices were tied to the desirability of the product for mostcustomers. For the most part, the argument hasfocused on the right to privacy and the woman's right to choose. Harvard Law Review, 1 ,1849-1873. Why not privatize it? In their treatment of ethnic and politicalminorities, governments often resort to ill-treatment of families andchildren. Radin, M.J. The standard fee schedule seemed to be directly tied toservices rendered by the adoption agency. There is considerable controversyabout his activities, and although he has brokered hundreds of adoptionsduring the 199 s, he has been almost effectively shut down at this point. Laws that make surrender of custody and consent to adoptionrevocable in private placement adoptions (Mnookin) In looking specifically at the first issue, the law in New Jerseyclearly stated that no one should make any arrangement to pay, give, oragree to give any money or valuable consideration or take, receive, acceptor agree to accept any money or valuable consideration in any placement foradoption. This seems to be borne out by the examples quotedin this section. The basic distinction between adoption and baby-selling is that theformer is designed specifically to perform the service of mediating betweenchildren without homes and parents who wish to provide them. Yet, the argument of John Davies and others that governments act tooslowly to deal with the problems of unwanted and surplus children is alsoan important one. They know that their child was alive,at some point, and are often able to trace the children to a particularhospital or holding station. In theEconomics of Justice (1981), he noted that wealth maximization might offerthe basis for a just system, since it combined consensus with someprotection for minorities, and attention to the value of the marketeconomy. Another interesting perspective on the issue and the meaning ofchanges in reproductive technologies and context is that of S.J. Davies had two main activities that have caused governments to condemnhim. As a young woman in her late teens, the woman is completelyestranged from her adoptive parents. She recently reconnected with hernatural parents and relatives in a village in El Salvador. However, shedid not really belong there either. In particular, the supply of desirablebabies, i.e., those without health problems, young, and generallyCaucasian, has diminished, while the supply of babies with various sorts ofproblems has remained constant or increased. (1993). In looking at recommendations, a good focuswould be on improving the current adoption system in order to improve itsefficiency and ability to function more empathetically toward the children,adoptive parents, and natural parents. However, U.S. Thesecond kind of cost includes, or emphasizes, a price for the child itself.The understanding is that the adoptive parent, or parents, is paying forthe baby, rather than for the services rendered during the adoptionprocess. Spare parts, family values, old children,cheap. Schnably.Schnably (1985) views the issue in ways similar to Radin, noting thatsurrogacy, for example, represents the shaping of the capitalist exchangesystem. Children's rightsactivists agreed with Davies that this is a common practice, but that it isin the region of private adoptions that the most outrageous behavioroccurs, and potentially the most dangerous to children and childrens'rights. Nationalist feeling. The argument of Professor Radinagainst the commodification of children, and the consequent precedent itsets for the commodification of both body parts and adults, is an importantone. Davies himself notedthat some legitimate adoption agencies from the West have engaged in buyingbabies from eastern Europe, just to get them out of the region. (1993). Adoptionstake a long time and cost thousands of dollars. These are people who have often failed in using all theaids to fertility, and have been unable to adopt a baby in the class, orcategory, in which they are interested. EmanuelThorne (199 ) noted that ethical issues regarding the selling of body partshave become increasingly important in the discussion of health andreproductive technologies. Thus, the court noted that baby-selling has thepotential to result in the exploitation of all parties involved.Conversely, the court noted that adoption statutes seek to furtherhumanitarian ends, foremost of those ends being the best interests of thechild. Instead,they more narrowly ruled that the surrogacy contract conflicted with: 1. The reason for this is one discussed by E.C. As Williams (1994) noted in her discussion of Posner and Landes(1978), their argument is so abstract, so focused on impersonal language ofeconomics and the market, that is seems almost irrational. The baby-sellerpays a fee to the mother, which does not happen with adoption agencies, andcharges a larger fee to the couple obtaining the child. Williams (1994) showed how this can operate even in legitimateadoption agencies in her discussion of the impact of race on adoptiondecisions and fees. Other issues. In that case, Mrs. Whitehead, the surrogate mother of Baby M, claimedthat the surrogacy contract was invalid. There are precedents for both types of fee being legally acceptable,although the second is not socially-approved. Irvine case puts adoptions in spotlight. . Essentially, he operates single-handedly,obtaining children in the chaos of Romania and Croatia and providing themto couples in the United States and other countries. The question of the best interests of the child isdifficult to determine, although that issue will be explored in a latersection of this study. She did not even speak Spanish, so shecould only speak to her family through an interpreter. Certainly theyfail to consider the implications on society as a whole of these kind ofmarket arrangements, and they fail completely to critique the conditionsthat make black babies "undesirable" or less desirable than their whitecounterparts. It is not only those accused of baby-selling who charge exorbitantfees, however. The case of Baby M, with its discussion ofsurrogacy, adoption, and the constitutional right to privacy is a goodstarting point. They may have already tried to work withadoption agencies. Adoption agencies receive money for their services. This,he believed, would serve all parties much better. Yet another option was described by Tom Junod. Adoptions aregenerally handled through an agency which is frequently licensed by thegovernment. Wallace (1995) noted that Davies himself said that his main interestis the rights of children, while governments often sponsor adoptions out ofthe country only to support national political interests. For thosewho do not wish to have children, birth control and abortion technologiesare now extremely effective and relatively safe. Fees for service or fees for the child; 4. Gentlemen's Quarterly, 64,258-266. They may refuse a particularcouple the possibility of adoption for one or more reasons. Private adoption arrangements, or baby-selling, areless regulated by the state and have the potential to even more negativelyimpact the morality of the society's arrangements for its lower statuschildren.Legal Issues There are a number of different legal issues involved in establishinga baby market. Normative judgment, social change and legalreasoning in the context of abortion and privacy. They are "set apart" from the realm of profane commerce (p. No one believed that what shewas telling them was simply the truth. For Meulders-Klein, the issueis not a religious or moral problem, but an existential one, requiringindividuals to engage in ongoing negotiation about the rights andboundaries of freedom. . Thus the issue is quite a complicated one, and this is particularlytrue in war-torn areas of the globe, or in regions where society is intemporary chaos. Bureaucracy/government ties vs. Scopas, was indicated on charges of selling 3 Greek children to American couples. Finally, there is the option of maintaining the system in its currentform, with an emphasis on government-regulated, bureaucratic adoptionagencies, and a black market operating outside of that, but constantlyharassed by the government. Thatpersonhood is guaranteed under the Constitution and is one of theinalienable rights. The emotional impact can, and does, extend foryears, since the family does not know the fate of the child and cannotcompletely let go, or mourn. LosAngeles Times, June 3 , 1996, Part A, page 1. Bibliography Bodnar, J. The intent is to look at thehistory of paying for children, including surrogacy, some of the legalissues involved, and the ramifications of paying either a fee for servicesor a price for the child itself.Thinking about Adoption One of the most important issues that needs to be considered intalking about baby-selling, or a baby market, is the differences betweenadoption - which is accepted as a legitimate and compassionate act - andbaby-selling, which is thought of as despicable and exploitative. In many baby market situations, the rights of thenatural parents are obtained illegally, either by exploiting the parents,stealing the child, or forging documents in either the country of origin orin the United States. Hisconclusion was that market should be less regulated than it currently is inorder for market forces to determine appropriate prices. The Baby Market and Adoption: An Exploration of the IssuesIntroduction The last half of the 2 th century has seen a radical change in the wayin which human beings in the United States manage their fertility. While this might not always be completely the case, there seem tobe more instances in baby market situations in which birth fathers' rights,and sometimes birth mothers' rights, are ignored, or false claims assertedthat they have been obtained legitimately. Money, 17, 164-174. There are severaloptions. Wallace, B. Michaels, J.W. In the court'sdecision in the Baby M case, the authors of the decision noted that baby-selling has the propensity to be exploitative of all parties, particularlythe child and the mother. Yet, this is an area of profound moralambiguity. For them, individuals who offer them theopportunity to obtain their desire - a child of their own of the right type- can often be heroes, rather than villains. Nationalist feeling can mean that the government of a countrywants to strictly regulate international adoption to ensure that itmaintains control over its own citizens (Wallace, 1995). The situation for many of the parents of the Greek children stolenfrom their families in the immediate post-war era is somewhat different.According to Konstandaras (1996), most of them were led to believe thattheir children had died during the birthing process. Although Radin was primarily concerned with evaluating the sale ofsexual services, her focus on commodification had implications for baby-selling and other activities, such as surrogacy and the sale of humanorgans. She was denied bail (Maharaj, 1996). Laws prohibiting the use of money in connection with adoptions; 2. Baby-selling represents a step backward in that line of thought, according toRadin. Treatment of minorities. While she noted that poor womenmay legitimately wish to sell one child in order to provide for thefamily's survival, this is unacceptable because it represents thecommodification of the child and the denial of its personhood. Again, utilitarianism is an issue. This is a prerequisite for slavery, among other things, or some sortof indentured servitude. There is some evidence that opposing sides in the Greek civilwar sold children of the other side (Kostandaras, 1996), as there isevidence of that practice in Guatemala and El Salvador. The right over one's own body: Itsscope and limits in comparative law. However,there are those who argue that the woman's right to choose does not extendto her right to choose for her child, as would be the case with surrogacyand baby-selling. The consequences for her were quite negative,and there were problems for her adoptive parents. Nonetheless, in looking at the consequences for children, adoptiveparents, and natural parents, it appears as though adoption is alwaysproblematic and fraught with emotion. . In general, theblack market for adoptive children has existed outside of the bounds ofsocial norms and has preyed on those already affected by war and poverty.It has used young, poor women to provide babies to those of upper classes,without really rewarding the birth mothers equitably. Yet, as one man noted in the article about Davies work: "Thereal question may be: can any agency properly charge a fee for an adoption. Nonetheless, the chargesagainst Scopas were dropped in 196 when a judge ruled that the adoptionswere legal in Greece (Konstandaras, 1996). What aresome of the differences? Kiplinger'sPersonal Finance Magazine, 46, 68-75. The recordsindicate that the child was actually born to the man and his wife, ratherthan to the Hungarian woman who carried the baby. While they do discuss ways in which to encourage consumers to consumemore of the low quality, low demand babies, Posner and Landes (1978) areprimarily concerned with ensuring that the market regulation wouldeventually create a balance between the supply of high quality babies andthe demand for them, as with the low-quality babies. Thesecouples may or may not be appropriate adoption candidates according to theusual adoption agency criteria. However, many of thoseparents now are registering with a non-profit agency termed the Associationfor the Investigation and Uncovering of Evidence of Adopted Children,because they are not completely certain that the children really did die(Konstandaras, 1996).Consequences for Adoptive Parents Perhaps the only group which might benefit from baby-selling is theadoptive parents. Fertility management extends in two different directions. The focus of the program was thesituation in El Salvador, in which parents continue to search for lostchildren through the church and other agencies. The adoptive parents may negotiate withan intermediary, or directly with the parents themselves. The end result,however, is that they are negotiating to obtain a product. A few of these childrenhave been tracked to adoptive parents in other countries, including theUnited States, where they and the adoptive parents were told that thenatural parents were dead and the children available for adoption. The newspapers and television were replete withstories about the plight of the Romanian orphans just a few years ago.These children were often warehoused in under-staffed and ill-designedfacilities in which they waited for years, in vain, for adoption. For example, in discussingabortion, self-determination, and inviolability of the body, Meulders-Klein(1983) indicated that there can be considerable conflict among these.Inviolability has tended to be a state and public decision, while self-determination has been a private decision. In themodern world, that change has become more rapid. (1996). Thorne, E. Interestingly enough, one of the babies that she sold for adoption wassold to a founder of the hospital in which it was born. PeopleWeekly, 39, 34-4 . Typically, he noted,they were told by doctors or nurses that the child was dead, even thoughthey were not given a body or death certificate. Clearly, the man charged fees for his services, and those fees weremore than he paid out in legal or medical fees in caring for the womenhaving the children and serving as mediator between them and the adoptingfamilies. Adoption isdesigned to provide services, not product, and to receive fees directlytied to the provision of those services. Generally, an individual sets up in business,primarily working with a population that is in crisis, such as Romania, orGuatemala, to obtain children for couples who wish to have them. Posner (1987) disputed this, noting that adoption today is closer innature to baby-selling and a baby market than an unregulated baby marketwould be to slavery. Nonetheless, the issues remain complex. Inan even more blatant example of the market aspect of current adoptionpractices, the agency also indicated that there were two fee schedulesavailable. Selling babies is a big business for bogusabortion clinics. They are, for the most part,individuals who are relatively well-off, and they frequently are seekingbabies who are Caucasian. This is generallynegotiated among institutions and undergoes change over time. Posner, R.A. However, the issue is even more muddled, according to PatriciaWilliams (1994). (1996). This is clearly counter to American legaltradition, along with the major documents of that tradition, theDeclaration of Independence and the Constitution. (1992). Bradley, T.S. For her, commodification was essentially in conflict with theindividual's inalienable personhood, but also remained an acceptable rightif individuals chose to commodify themselves for purposes of sexual sales.However, as she wrote, when the baby becomes commodified, all of itspersonal attributes tend to be commodified, which could have implicationsfor the future. Again, this is often a condition of war.There are many reasons why illegitimacy increases during times of war,including the fact that woman are more prone to be raped during thesetimes, and more likely to be forced into prostitution to ensure theirsurvival. For example, a discussion in Maclean'sabout British-born minister John Davies, accused of being a baby-seller,emphasized that to potential adoptive parents he has been a heroic figure.These adoptive parents contend that while the government bogged them downin bureaucracy and red tape, Davies was able to match potential adoptiveparents with suffering Romanian children, allowing both to thrive andprosper (Wallace, 1995). Someone else's child. Whilemost people throughout human history, and even today, have been at themercy of the fates in regard to fertility, that is no longer the case. She is a woman withtwo families, in neither of which she feels a comfortable part. According to Posner, economicefficiency might be the most defensible aim of public policy. There is certainly the potential for problems here, orthe development of an actual baby mill, or baby factory, with the ex-prostitutes (or still active prostitutes) providing fresh infants for thepurposes of adoption abroad. She swindledall of them, for a total of $55, . She also stated that it directly conflicted withstatutes concerning termination of parental rights and adoption. Hewitt, B. Ms. Magazine, 4, 92-94. He believed that this desacralization of childbirth(although not his term), created the potential for increased state controland regulation of reproduction. Much of this moral ambiguity has to do with understanding the wayhuman beings make meaning and understand the world. 1. What were theconsequences for her natural parents? Boston, MA: HarvardUniversity Press. Their discussion of breedingbabies, as currently occurs in highly-condemned baby farms primarily in thethird world, focuses on genetically tailoring those babies to meet consumerpreferences. The cruelest hoax: A cold-blooded mother-to-betoys with the yearning of couples desperate to adopt her baby. He was essentially involved in a post-war babymarket connected to a baby market in Greece. He indicated that privatizing adoption soundscallous, but that it actually turns over to the operation of the freemarket the business of connecting children with potential parents. She was charged with one count of wireand mail fraud in a criminal complaint. The baby-seller generally works with a poor and exploited population,obtaining children from mothers who are unable to support their families,and from young unwed women who are about to have children. What he did rule was thatit was acceptable practice, at that time and place, since the legalpaperwork seemed to be in order in Greece. Whether that was an accurateassessment of the situation is not relevant in this instance. It can also meanthat governments steal children from ethnic or political minorities andmake them available to the baby market. Wallace (1995) noted that Romanian orphanages are stillexceedingly slow to place children, with children often waiting for yearsto be matched to adoptive parents. Theygenerally have placement processes which explore the prospective parents'history, work, home life, and other factors. Unlike birth control and reproductivetechnologies, however, adoption has become less accessible and less of anopen process. Hirschman (1991).Hirschman noted that there is an important human distinction that is madebetween what is sacred and what is profane. lone-wolf operations; 5. First, there is the fee for services which essentiallyis designed to cover the costs to the agency of processing an application,identifying an appropriate child, and making other arrangements. Empathy and need. Adoptionagencies have obtained legal rights to the children they offer foradoption, either through the parents renouncing parental rights, or throughthe death of the parents. He further indicatedthat people who used these kinds of arguments were likely to be people whodid not want to participate in the market and looked down upon those whowere driven, either by unwanted pregnancy or involuntary childlessness, toneed such a market. Junod, T. The problems discussed in the preceding two pages are primary problemsin thinking about private adoptions and baby-selling. She noted that it conflicted withpublic policy and deprived the mother of her constitutional right to thechild's companionship. So, even though the surrogacy contract was deemed invalid, Mrs.Whitehead lost custody of the child. There are other problems that result, too, which are related to largersocial issues. Many of them have memories oforphanages and foster parents, and being told that their parents were dead,but later discovered some evidence that this was not the case. At this point,they are taken in by some family in the network until their child is bornand sold by the fake clinic (Petrillo, 1993). On the other hand, baby-selling is a less bureaucratic, and often moresingle-handed process. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.