Lesson Plan: Surrogacy and Bioethics
Grades 9-12
More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build families, but laws governing the practice are unsettled. In some states, paid surrogacy is legal and regulated; in others, it is restricted or simply unaddressed. This short documentary traces the roots of that legal patchwork back to a landmark custody battle in the 1980s involving a child known at the time as Baby M. This lesson examines the legal history of surrogacy and its bioethical challenges, asking students to model the biological roles involved in a pregnancy to better understand the ethical questions surrounding genetic versus gestational parenthood.
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