Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies: Home

Abstract:
In this paper, we examine surrogate motherhood in the contemporary African culture. Surrogacy involves impregnating one woman to gestate a baby who is to be raised by another woman. This arrangement raises many ethical issues in the African society especially Yoruba society. In Yoruba culture, "motherhood", "fatherhood" and the family carry different connotations from that of the Western culture. We also argued that reproduction through surrogate mothering is complicated by the possibility of a woman gestating a fetus genetically unrelated to her; a practice that deviates from African cultural norms. It draws on the Yoruba culture which recognizes only one natural mother - the genetic mother and one natural family - the nuclear family. We conclude by emphasizing the value of motherhood, fatherhood, and the family within the Yoruba culture and that the ethical issues that are involved in surrogacy as an artificial reproductive technique include the undermining of sexual activities that are limited to a man and his wife.

Keywords: surrogacy, motherhood, reproduction, technology, genetics.

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