Surrogacy is a practice where a woman agrees to have her body used to carry another couple’s pregnancy and deliver it to them, mostly for a fee. The practice has attracted a lot of controversy surrounding the human rights, ethics and the implications on women’s health issues. Ellen Goodman considers the practice of surrogacy “womb renting” and objects it on the basis that it dehumanizes childbirth (Goodman 2012). The topic of surrogacy is important because of the issues surrounding the practice such a legal as well as ethical issues. The essay seeks to examine Goodman’s use of logic and emotion to present her argument against surrogacy.
In her argument, Ellen Goodman uses both logical and emotional appeal to oppose the idea of surrogacy. For instance, she makes an argument that surrogacy is equivalent to slavery. She warns that women should not be “selling their children.” In a strong emotional appeal, Goodman insists that surrogacy is a bad practice because it dehumanizes the process of childbirth. Goodman also appeals to the health effects of participating in surrogacy. In her article, she points out that women who are practicing surrogacy are likely to suffer health consequences. According to her, it makes no logical sense to suffer serious health problems because of carrying someone else’s baby (Goodman 2012). Despite her strong opposition to the practice, Goodman also gives rational justification as to why many women go for black surrogacy. The majority of those who go for surrogacy do so because of their financial condition and hence their actions may be justified.
Conclusion
The article “Womb for Rent” by Ellen Goodman was written in opposition to surrogacy. Even though the article gives emotional and logical argumenta against the practice, Ellen presents points that makes the readers understand the practice from both sides. From her article, one gets both the negative and positive effects of surrogacy. This important issue needs to be properly understood because of the huge number of women agreeing to participate in the practice. The women should be encouraged to understand the pros and cons of participating in surrogacy.
References
Goodman, E. (2012). Womb for rent. In J. Ramage, J. Bean " J. Johnson (Eds.), Writing arguments: A rhetoric with readings
(p. 169). Boston, MA: Pearson.
