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Commodification or Compensation: A Reply to Ketchum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Abstract

I defend the permissibility of paid surrogacy arrangements against the arguments Sara Ketchum advances in “Selling Babies and Selling Bodies.” I argue that the arrangements cannot be prohibited out of hand on the grounds that they treat persons as objects of sale, because it is possible to view the payments made in these arrangements as compensation for the woman's services. I also argue that the arguments based on exploitation and parental custodial rights fail to provide adequate grounds for prohibiting the arrangements.

Type
Reply
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 by Hypatia, Inc.

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References

Ketchum, Sara. 1984. The moral status of the bodies of persons. Social Theory and Practice 10: 2538.10.5840/soctheorpract19841011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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