Is surrogacy baby-selling? Does the surrogate mother have any rights to the baby?

Surrogacy is the act of using one’s uterus to carry another couple’s baby.  Most of the time the baby is an egg from the hiring mother and uses the sperm of the hiring father to create the fetus.  In some cases the hiring mother may not have a usable egg and the surrogate’s egg can be used.  I do not feel that surrogacy is baby-selling.  If anything I think surrogacy is prostitution of one’s uterus.   It could also be seen as the surrogate mother is taking advantage of an infertile couple’s desperation to have their own biological child.  I think as long as the couple and surrogate mother are in agreement and a contract is written, then surrogacy is morally permissible.  I do feel there needs to be laws put in place to protect the surrogate mother and to protect the hiring couple.  I believe each surrogacy case should have a binding contract that can be upheld in court.  In the case of if the surrogate mother has rights to the child, I believe, since there is no binding contracts right now for surrogacy, that if both egg and sperm are from the hiring couple then she does not have any rights.  If by some chance the egg belongs to the surrogate mother, then as of right now by law, she has the maternal rights to the baby. She however should not be able to keep the biological father from the baby. 

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