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Beyond Relativism: Comparing the Practice and Norms of Surrogacy in India, Israel, and Germany

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Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation

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Abstract

My following comparative analysis is based on two main questions: How can we best understand and describe the social practices of modern medicine in a particular cultural context? And: What can we learn for our moral thinking from such a comparative approach? I will answer these two questions by engaging the comprehensive studies from law, medical sociology/anthropology and ethics in this volume from three different cultural/national contexts: Germany, Israel and India in a fictional, comparative discourse. Hereby, I identify three cross-themes of surrogacy which I will discuss from a normative point of view: (a) unsolved ethical concerns such as exploitation, child’s best interest and unethical motivations, (b) a naturalised parenthood as global-cultural imperative, and (c) the need for transnational discourses beyond relativism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Medical Center Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Silke Schicktanz

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  1. Silke Schicktanz
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Correspondence to Silke Schicktanz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Sayani Mitra

  2. Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Silke Schicktanz

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Tulsi Patel

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Schicktanz, S. (2018). Beyond Relativism: Comparing the Practice and Norms of Surrogacy in India, Israel, and Germany. In: Mitra, S., Schicktanz, S., Patel, T. (eds) Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78670-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78670-4_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78669-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78670-4

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