European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ethical and Legal uncertainty surround surrogate motherhood by Iver Peterson new York times he emotional courtroom Battle Lor custody of baby m has cast a Sharp and disquieting Light on tha tangle of ethical and Legal uncertainties surrounding the growing practice of surrogate motherhood. In the 10 years since the first publicized arrangement in which a couple paid a woman to be Arlell scially inseminated Wilh the husband s sperm Bear a child and relinquish custody to the couple about 500 babies have been born into a world virtually devoid of Laws to Deal with Sungalo motherhood. And As interest in surrogacy grows some of it fuelled by the events in the Hackensack nj., courtroom where tha baby m Case is being heard people Amita Wilh Tho practice say disputes Are Suie to arise that will be even More vexing than the one in which or. Elizabeth and William Stern Are fighting the woman they hired to Bear a child for them Mary Beth Whitehead Tor custody. To some who have studied the Issue one of he most disturbing elements of surrogate motherhood is the overtone of class exploitation. As is the Case in the baby m dispute surrogate mothers tend to have less education and less Money than i heir clients Many religious Leaden particularly among roman cathodes and orthodox jews bitterly oppose surrogate motherhood saying As new Jersey Bishops did in a recent statement that it reduces a human baby to a commodity. At the same Lime some feminists argue that surrogacy arrangements Are a woman s private business and should not be subject to moral or Legal interference As technology outpaces the capacity of the Legal system to guide such situations alternative versions of surrogate motherhood Are bang discussed. In at least one Case a Lelus fertilized in a Laboratory has been implanted in a woman who was not the egg donor. Such cases in which the women giving birth is not tha genetic Mother cow raise oven More troubling moral and Legal issues Trie Long term psychological effects of surrogate motherhood on everyone involved particularly on Tho children born of such arrangements Are far from Clear moreover while slats Legislatures and courts begin to struggle with these end other questions