Why is South Korea unable to solve the problem of low fertility and surrogacy despite the popularity of parenting shows?

This article analyzes the causes of South Korea’s declining fertility rate, the need for surrogacy, ethical issues, and the legal debates and social perceptions on the permissibility and prohibition of surrogacy.

 

Since last year, parenting shows have become very popular among young and old alike. This is probably because it provides empathy for parents who are currently raising children, memories for those who have raised children, and curiosity for those who have not yet raised children. Most people dream of marriage and imagine a life with a spouse and children. Children are the most important thing to a married couple, as you can see in apartment ads, where children are always shown as an example of a happy family. However, the reality is that the fertility rate is decreasing year by year. As of 2023, the OECD average fertility rate is 1.6 children, while South Korea’s fertility rate is 0.72 children, the lowest in the OECD.
There are two main reasons for the declining fertility rate. The first is a social structural issue. As of 2023, working couples accounted for 46.3% of all couples and are on the rise. In addition, the burden of education and childcare expenses has led many to give up childcare. The second reason is biological, due to environmental changes. Environmental hormones and excessive exposure to electromagnetic radiation have led to an increase in the number of infertile couples every year. In fact, at least 600,000 couples suffer from infertility every year. Of course, the first reason, societal structural problems, contribute more to the decline in fertility, but there’s no realistic way to solve it quickly. On the other hand, recent advances in medical technology have led to many efforts to overcome biological problems. One of them is surrogacy, which offers hope to infertile couples with biological problems. A surrogate mother is a person who gives birth vicariously. If a fertilized egg fails to implant due to an abnormality in the uterus, or if there are problems with both the uterus and the egg, the surrogate mother provides both the uterus and the egg.
While many foreign celebrities have given birth using surrogate mothers, surrogacy is still unfamiliar in Korea. In South Korea, the perception of surrogacy is negative. In fact, according to the “Life Sharing Awareness Survey” conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 85.3% of the 1000 respondents had a negative opinion of surrogacy, with 68% saying it should be banned by law. The negative perceptions may be influenced by the past existence of gestational surrogacy in Korea, a concept similar to surrogacy. Gestational carriers were often of low status and were not allowed to publicly announce their status. It was not understood that a woman who was asked to bear a child would be undignified and looked upon negatively. Of course, you may think that this is the way things were in the past, but the reluctance to use surrogacy in Korea, and the tacit acceptance of surrogacy if it is used at all, means that the same problems are repeating themselves. Koreans are so ignorant about surrogacy, which has gotten a lot of attention around the world for women’s rights issues and discrimination against women in the first and third world. I decided to do more research on surrogacy because anyone who dreams of becoming a parent may need to seek the help of a surrogate, and dismissing the issue as a negative perception of society is a continuation of past sexism.
When I first researched surrogacy, I thought it could be a good thing if used for the right reasons. In an era of declining birthrates, increasing infertility rates, and advances in medical technology, the need for surrogacy and the safety of the procedure are increasing. Then I came across a photo of many surrogate mothers in India and Thailand, all lying full-term in a small tent. There was no happiness in their expressions, and they looked like they just wanted the child to come out quickly. I felt that the most sublime and beautiful conception of life had been turned into a mere concept of reproduction, and I thought deeply about the issue of surrogacy again. Surrogacy should be strictly prohibited in Korea due to the lack of a system in place, ethical issues, and health concerns.
Currently, surrogacy is allowed in some US states, the UK, India, and Greece, but it is prohibited by law in many countries, including Germany, France, and Italy. And even in countries where surrogacy is allowed, as in the previous example, regulations are being strictly revised. In South Korea, there are no specific regulations. However, Article 23 of the Bioethics and Safety Act states that “no person shall provide, utilize, induce, or arrange for the provision of embryos, eggs, or sperm in exchange for money, property benefits, or any other consideration. However, the lack of a clear institutional regulatory framework and the fact that it is not illegal has led to problems with people taking advantage of loopholes in the law. Therefore, surrogacy should be banned until proper regulations are in place.
Legally, surrogacy in South Korea is neither illegal nor legal, but invalid. Most surrogacy contracts involve a down payment and then the implantation of sperm or fertilized eggs. After the surrogate gives birth safely and hands over the child to the couple, the balance is paid. However, if the contract is annulled, the question arises as to whether the surrogate must return the money to the couple in order to put everything back to the way it was before, in accordance with their respective restitution obligations. In this case, the surrogate mother does not have to return all the money she received to the couple. The child is already born and cannot disappear just because the contract is invalidated. The question then becomes whether the child’s parentage belongs to the surrogate mother or the couple, and the courts have not yet dealt with disputes over surrogacy contracts. This is because surrogacy contracts are often secretive and taboo in Korea. As there is no case law on the surface, and there have been cases of fraudulent surrogacy contracts because they are invalid under the law, the surrogacy market in Korea will continue to create innocent victims until the system is overhauled.
Furthermore, surrogacy has the potential to commercialize and turn a life that is priceless into a business. Surrogacy is the buying and selling of life, and a woman’s eggs and uterus can be commercially exploited. When money is involved in surrogacy, many unethical situations arise. In fact, more than 90% of surrogate mothers do it for financial reasons. It takes a lot of time and effort to take care of a child during the actual 10-month pregnancy. Financial compensation for this is currently the policy of countries that allow surrogacy, and it may seem like a natural compensation. However, as money becomes involved, the greater financial reward makes it much more likely that surrogates will choose to have an abortion, which is an unethical option. The ethical issues would be exacerbated if the child born with life were evaluated and selected based on nationality, gender, etc.
These concerns are real, and a prime example is “baby design”. This is the practice of designing a baby to be whatever you want it to be, including gender and nationality. For example, parents are paying surrogate mothers large sums of money to conceive a girl or force them to have an abortion if the baby is born with a birth defect. Wealthy Asian families don’t just want to have children through surrogacy. They often seek an American surrogate to facilitate the immigration of the entire family to the United States. Some parents also want to use the child to move their wealth out of the country. It is a gross disregard for the dignity of life when a human being who is meant to be a blessing is given a special purpose before birth.
Another problem with surrogacy is that it can lead to health problems for both the surrogate and the child. Even in countries where surrogacy is legally allowed, the health requirements to become a surrogate are strict. However, the surrogacy market has become so large that many surrogates who do not meet the health requirements are entering the market to meet the growing demand. This is not only dangerous for the surrogate mother during childbirth, but it can also lead to health problems for the child, such as birth defects.
For surrogates, the egg retrieval and delivery process is a major health risk. Surrogates are often given “hyperovulation inducers,” which force them to ovulate eight to 10 eggs at a time, instead of one egg per month. This can cause 20 to 30 percent of surrogates to suffer side effects, and in severe cases, infertility and ovarian cancer. For delivery, a cesarean section is usually chosen to deliver the child efficiently and economically. This is obviously not a good option for either mother or child. The bigger problem than the surrogate mother is the child. There are two main problems for the child, one is the aforementioned health issues, and the other is identity. When the general public was surveyed about who should be recognized as their real parents, the genetic parents or the parents who gave birth to them, the numbers were similar: 22.4% and 21.7%, respectively. From the child’s point of view, the presence of a surrogate mother is not easy to accept and can cause lifelong trauma.
Surrogacy and adoption are often compared to each other. Some people believe that surrogacy, like adoption, can only be used for good if there are organized laws in place. However, surrogacy is very vulnerable to abuse. Adoption is when parents who want a child recognize and raise an already born child as their own. In this process, the gender can be chosen and physical health can be checked. Surrogacy, on the other hand, has no health or gender requirements and involves money, making it much more susceptible to abuse like the “baby design” cases. Therefore, it requires a strict legal framework, just like adoption, before it can be implemented.
Surrogacy should be banned through a strict legal framework. Surrogacy is completely different from other medical procedures. While other medical treatments are intended to save a living person who is dying, surrogacy is about creating a new life, which is different in nature. In other medical treatments, the risk of the treatment is on the patient and the patient does not jeopardize another life to save his or her own, but in surrogacy, the risk is on the other person and the life of the other person is guaranteed for a new life. In addition, the lack of a legal system and the involvement of money makes it very likely that there will be many victims. It undermines the value of life, which is priceless, and raises many ethical issues. It can also cause health problems for the surrogate mother and the child, and identity confusion for the child. Even if the topic is not yet a big issue in Korea, it is rare that it is intertwined with various issues such as women’s rights, globalization, and discrimination against women in third world countries. It is an issue that we should be concerned about, and one that is currently hidden in the shadows, but will one day become visible in Korea. In the absence of institutional support, surrogacy in South Korea still has major problems that outweigh its apparent benefits, and it should be banned.