Ethicist Defends Surrogacy As Justifiable Option

An advice column responds to a reader in her 30s with a health condition that complicates pregnancy, evaluating whether paid surrogacy is ethically permissible. The columnist contrasts commercial versus altruistic and domestic versus international surrogacy, flags exploitation risks in countries like Georgia and Ukraine, and argues that psychological or mental-health reasons can count as medical indications requiring informed-consent safeguards.