The College of Physicians of Colombia (CMC) unleashed a wave of indignation by sharing on Twitter a bioethics article that proposes “using” brain-dead women for surrogacy, as this will help childless couples become parents through of surrogacy. In addition, the uteruses of women who remain in bed will not be “wasted.”
Immediately feminist organizations, Internet users and medical specialists were against it. Although the article was not made by the CMC, the institution had to apologize for sharing it, because in networks they were accused of agreeing to profit from women’s bodies.
The tweet shared by the Colombian College of Physicians linked to an article in Epicrisis (the institution’s news portal), which contained a translation of the original text published in Bioedge and the scientific journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics.
In the original text there is talk of the “whole body donation” by women so that other people use them to gestate their own babies.
It seems plausible that some people are prepared to consider donating their entire bodies for gestational purposes just as some people donate parts of their bodies for organ donation. We already know that pregnancies can be successfully carried to term in brain-dead women. There is no obvious medical reason why it is not possible to start these types of pregnancies.
– Anna Smajdor, professor at the University of Oslo
It should be noted that the article (which has already been removed from social networks) dealt with the issue from a philosophical point of view.
In this article, I explore the ethics of whole-body gestational donation. I consider a number of potential counterarguments, including the fact that such donations do not save lives and that they may reify the female reproductive body.
Anna Smajdor, a professor at the University of Oslo, argues that if organ donation is socially accepted, the donation of a whole body for pregnancy should also be.
From a philosophical point of view or not, the issue has caused a stir, coming to be criticized by medical organizations and Internet users who say that this would be an infringement of human rights, in addition to the fact that it could be classified as a violation before the law. For their part, feminist groups disapprove of the idea of something like this happening, since a woman’s body should not be seen as a machine that grants benefits to others.
Because of this, the Colombian College of Physicians removed his tweet and the corresponding article from its database. In addition, he offered an apology through his social networks. However, Internet users from all over the world continue to show their total disagreement on the subject.