Human Exceptionalism

Life and dignity with Wesley J. Smith.

Renting Wombs in India Exploits the Powerless


Colonialism used to be about the rich exploiting the resources of other lands. Now, biological colonialism (as I call it) finds well off (mostly) Westerners exploiting destitute people in developing countries for their body parts and functions, essentially using people as natural resources.

Renting uteruses of destitute Indian women for their gestational capacities–just one form of BC–is apparently on the rise. From a story in the Independent:



How nice for them, but the mother left behind isn’t so happy because she became attached to the babies from nine months of gestation. It could have been worse: Some of the women in India whose bodies were rented in the fertility industry have died

You see, she didn’t matter.  She was just a “gestational carrier,” in the dehumanizing parlance of the IVF industry. What counts is our sense of entitlement–to a baby, to a kidney, to experiment results, sexual release, etc. Biological colonialism objectifies and exploits vulnerable and desperate human beings.  It should be stopped. 



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