Rugemødre:
OUR DIALOGUE - Arab News Q & A:
Q:
Does a surrogate mother have any potential rights to the baby she carries
for an infertile couple? The sperm and the egg are provided by the natural
parents. Will she be a third parent to the child with whom she has no
genetic link? How would you analyze the child's relationship, inheritance
and social status from the Islamic point of view?
A:
Islam attaches much importance to the accuracy of family relationship. It
tolerates no deliberate confusion of parenthood and threatens with severe
punishment any person who tries to confuse such relationship. If you
consider the reasons for the requirement that a divorced woman or a widow
observe a waiting period during which she may not be married to anyone,
you will find that the main reason for that requirement is to ascertain
whether the woman is pregnant or not. Indeed, Islam does not allow a man
to divorce his wife if he has had intercourse with her during her present
period of cleanliness from menstruation. They must wait until she has had
her next period, so that the divorce can take place at the beginning of
her waiting period. If it is discovered later that she is pregnant, her
waiting period extends until she has given birth. This last ruling also
applies to widows, who have to observe a waiting period which extends
normally to four months and ten days. However, if the widow is pregnant,
she must give birth before her waiting period is over. The reason for that
is to leave no room for confusion about the parenthood of that child and
to preserve the child's right either to be brought up by the father if he
divorces the mother, or to have his share of inheritance if his father has
died.
Similarly, Islam has forbidden
adoption whereby a married couple claim that they are the parents of a
child which is not theirs. This again ensures that the rights of
inheritance are preserved. In countries which permit adoption, an adopted
child is given a share of inheritance of the couple adopting him. He can
have no claim to any share of the inheritance of his real parents or other
members of his real family. While this may be to the benefit of the child
in many cases, it is not necessarily so. Moreover, this situation affects
the rights of other heirs of the adopting parents. In Islam, when a man or
a woman dies, leaving behind no child of their own, their estate goes to
other heirs defined by the Islamic system of inheritance. Some of these
would not be heirs at all, if the deceased person had a child of his or
her own. Moreover, this confused situation affects the rights of the
adopting parents. It is well known that Islam lays down rules for mutual
family solidarity. When a person is guilty of accidental killing, as could
happen these days if he causes a car accident, he is required to pay blood
money to the family of the victim. If he cannot afford that, his heirs
must come to his help. They are required by Islamic rules to contribute to
the blood money. If he deprives some of his heirs of their share by
adopting a child, he deprives himself of his right to call on them to help
him in such a case. All the foregoing explains some of the reasons for the
importance Islam attaches to preserving accurate family relations.
Surrogate motherhood is a term which
defines a process where a woman carries a child for the benefit of a
childless couple. First a process of artificial insemination is carried
out to help. The sperm of a man's fertile egg is implanted in the uterus
of the other woman who goes through a natural period of pregnancy for a
fee she receives from the couple. A contract is drawn whereby she forgoes
all her claims to the child. At the end of the pregnancy, she delivers the
child under the supervision of the doctors involved in the process and the
child is given to the couple. There have been cases when the surrogate
mother made claims to the child and courts of the United States have
looked into these claims at one time or another.
There is no doubt that this process
creates confusion about the parenthood of the child. We need go no further
than the question put by our reader, asking whether the surrogate mother
can be considered a third parent. His question arises from what he says
about her having no genetic link with the child. It may be so, but she
certainly has a very strong link with a baby whom she carried inside her
for nine months, giving it the same nourishment as every pregnant woman
gives to her fetus.
This process is not acceptable from
the Islamic point of view. Muslim scholars who have considered the new
techniques that are utilized to help women get pregnant have ruled that
such techniques may be permissible only when they involve a married
couple. No one else should be involved. That means that a test-tube baby
may be permissible to have if the egg of the wife is fertilized by the
sperm of her husband and then the fertilized egg is implanted in her, not
in any other woman. When a third party is involved, as in the case of
surrogate motherhood, the process is forbidden.
Steering away from all such
confusion is much better for everyone. Every married couple should
remember that it is Allah alone who determines whether to bestow on them
the grace of having children and also determines whether their children
shall be boys only or girls only or a mixture of both. Again, He is the
One to determine whether they remain childless. Acceptance of His decision
is the mark of true faith.
As I have already mentioned, it is
open to any couple to bring up any child who is not their own. They,
however, must not adopt that child in the way adoption is done in
non-Muslim countries. The child should continue to be called after his own
parents. Any deviation from this is likely to cause confusion of
parenthood. Hence, it is forbidden.
Denne artikel er
hentet på internettet den 20. januar 2001.
