INTRODUCTION

Imagine five people seated around a table in a small conference room, two married couples and a lawyer representing an infertility center. They are discussing the details of a contract. The contract, like all contracts, is about the future and the various concrete actions the parties will take in order to bring about the desired future. It is also about contingencies should that future unfold in a way other than as planned. Like all contracts, this one involves an exchange of promises. It represents a meeting of the minds as captured in words and signatures. As with most contractual agreements this one involves people who are strangers to one another. What makes the document a contract and not just a wish list is the presumption that, should the promises be unfulfilled, a judge may be called upon to compel fulfillment or some other form of restitution. The contract that the people are discussing concerns nature. It concerns human bodies and the control of bodies. It is what is called a surrogacy contract. It is an agreement that one of the women will have an embryo (derived from the gametes of the other couple) implanted in her uterus; will, if possible, carry the pregnancy to term and will give the baby or babies to the “intending couple” for them to raise as their own in exchange for 10,000 dollars. Sperm, egg, uterus, child, money. The surrogate also agrees to undergo amniocentesis.