Professional and Personal Values: A Critical Analysis of Baby Trade

This essay critically examines the ethical implications of the commercial baby trade, focusing on practices like sperm donation, surrogacy, and In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). It highlights the shift from non-commercial uses of Artificial Insemination (AI) to a market-driven approach where sperm and eggs are rated and sold based on donor qualities. The essay discusses how surrogacy has evolved into a “reproductive supermarket,” where women and children are seen as commodities. It further analyses how IVF and technologies like Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) contribute to the notion of customizing babies, raising concerns about the commodification of children and the erosion of the natural bond between mother and child. The essay concludes by emphasizing that children should not be treated as commodities, yet they are being sold in various forms, posing a serious ethical challenge.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL VALUES
Professional and Personal Values
The Name of the Student:
The Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
Conclusion......................................................................................................................3

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Introduction
In “The Business of Life” Spar and Deborah (2004) intend to focus on the baby
trading business from an ethical point of view. Love, truth, kidneys and infants are the things
that cannot be gained by money. Yet, in recent time, people are trying to make a business out
of the infertility of individuals. This purpose of this report is to critically comment on the
current practice of the baby trade.
Discussion
At the initial stage, sperm was not a commercial object. The Artificial Insemination
(AI) was used only for non-commercial purpose such as helping the husbands who had gone
through physical injury and become incapable of insemination. Soon, insemination and sperm
donation turned into a business prospective. Instead of using the husband’s sperm to
impregnate the wife, sperms were being stored to sell to the potential buyers. Business
attributes such as service, cost and quality were introduced in the sperm banks to make a
commercial makeover. Sperms started to be rated and priced according to the qualities and
characteristics of the donor. This process meant that a child was being judged, accepted and
rejected based on the character of the father.
Surrogacy, on the other hand, is an ancient practice. It is even hinted in numerous
historical literatures such as Genesis. However, the commercialization of surrogacy was
inspired by the growing demand of the sperm market. this gave birth to the “reproductive
supermarket”. This market saw women and children as commodities to gain profit, and
women intentionally become pregnant only to give away that baby for material of monetary
gain. The bond between a mother and her child is considered the purest form of relation
where love is unconditional and selfless. Yet, in surrogacy, such bonds never get the chance

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to be build. Further, to avoid future complications, contracts are signed between the surrogate
mother and the parents giving the process of childbirth an economic purpose. The innovation
of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) further implemented the notion that there will never be any
potential bond between the surrogate mother and the child. IVF also offered the buyer parents
to choose the eggs and womb from different sources exhibiting the idea that baby making
process is a machinery process where the different parts of a machine can be accumulated
based on quality and performance. Soon enough, like the sperm market, eggs were also being
sold and categorized as the qualities of the donor. Eggs were purchased based on what kind
of child do the parents want, such a child who is likely to have athletic qualities or a child
who will have the potential to join the musical industry.
Parents are supposed to learn about their child along with time; that is the gift of life.
The commercialization of baby making developed the idea that people can customise their
babies. Children became an “order” rather than a “gift”. Advanced cell Technology (ACT) is
offering that opportunity to the people. It further offers to recreate the loved ones. With the
help of such technologies, human and child are becoming designer products.
Conclusion
Children are not commodities. Yet, in almost every country, they are being sold even
in form of sperms and eggs. Selling children is a crime in all around the world, yet people are
utilizing the infertility of individuals to sell them infants, sperms, eggs, womb and embryos
legally. Commercialising children is a serious ethical concern for both the people who are
buying and selling the “product”.

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Reference
Spar, D. and Reavis, C. 2004. The Business of Life. Harvard Business School, 704-037, p.17.