Questions & Answers

Christian love begins first with loving God and then loving others (Matthew 22:36-40). As such, a decision to participate in a surrogate parenting role involves both a concern for what pleases God as well as for what serves others.

A surrogate mother carries the developing embryo created from the sperm and egg of another couple. Sometimes that other couple is indeed a "couple," and sometimes they do not know each other, and the surrogate is simply carrying a child so that one person or a non-participating couple or a same-sex couple can have a child.

As one considers both love for God and love for others, the following considerations are important:

First, Scripture is silent on the specific practice of surrogate parenting. The closest reference is the account of Mary becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit and bearing Jesus. In that case, however, Mary is the biological mother of the Savior.

Second, and most problematic, is the process that enables surrogate parenting. Surrogate parenting relies on in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a process that mixes egg and sperm in a Petri dish, allows the embryo to develop, and then implants it in the womb of a woman. IVF has become common yet it remains a very dangerous procedure for human life in the embryonic stage. According to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/art) the chances of a live birth from an IVF procedure are as follows:

• 30% to 35% for women under age 35
• 25% for women ages 35 to 37
• 15% to 20% for women ages 38 to 40
• 6% to 10% for women ages over 40

A lot of human beings in the earliest stages of life die in these IVF attempts. Note that these numbers do not include the embryos lost to cryo-preservation or that were destroyed for looking less-than-ideal for transfer into the womb.

The ideal procedure would be the ability to take sperm and a single egg, fertilize them, and as that young life matures to the appropriate level, implant it in the womb where it continues to grow normally to birth. Unfortunately, according to statistics, that is not how it usually goes.

Third, there is concern over how to view a surrogate in regard to the one-flesh relationship prescribed by God. Clearly Scripture teaches in Genesis 1 and 2 that procreation was to occur from the joining of one man and one woman. Bringing in a third party casts into question that relationship.

There is the less-controversial role that loving women can play in volunteering to carry a pregnancy for a cryo-preserved unborn child that otherwise faces termination. This process is often called Snowflake adoption.

While Snowflake adoption still involves some of the hazards of the IVF process, it is the only alternative available to the destruction of young lives in their embryonic stage. For more information on Snowflake adoptions visit the website of Christian Life Resources at www.ChristianLifeResources.com and search for "snowflake."