Colombia’s medical association was heavily criticized for suggesting keeping brain dead women alive so they can be used as surrogate mothers.
The doctors were forced to apologize for suggesting that brain dead women be kept alive as human incubators for women and male-to-female people who can’t have babies.
The women would be required to donate their bodies in advance in the event that they are declared brain dead during hospitalization or following surgery.
The macabre suggestion was published in an article based on a recent paper about whole body gestational donation, which involves women giving prior consent to be used as surrogate wombs after being declared clinically brain dead.
“What about all those brain-stem dead female bodies in hospital beds? Why should their wombs be going to waste?” wrote Norway-based academic Anna Smajdor.
There are documented cases of brain dead women giving birth to healthy babies.
Smajdor, a professor of practical philosophy at the University of Oslo, argues that whole body gestational donation could become a common way to bring new children into the world as it avoids health risks for the eventual mother.
“States and health services should adapt their policies and procedures to allow for WBGD among other donation options,” wrote Prof Smajdor in the paper, published by Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics.
Proj Smajdor also says that male bodies could potentially be adapted to give birth, “thereby circumventing some potential feminist objections”.
The article sparked furious public backlash when it was translated into Spanish.
Some critics and women’s rights advocates are concerned that signatures could be forged if women did not give consent before being declared brain dead. Others say women could be wrongfully declared brain dead to be used as surrogate bodies for high net worth clients.
Question: Would you donate your body for use as a surrogate mom?
