双语阅读｜生命的馈赠：代孕应该值得赞美并得到回报
THE earliest known description of surrogacy is an ugly biblical story: in Genesis, the childless Sara sends her husband to bed with her maidservant, Hagar, and takes the child as her own. It is this exploitative version of surrogacy that still shapes attitudes and laws today. Many countries ban it outright, convinced that the surrogate is bound to be harmed, no matter whether she consents. Others allow it, but ban payment. Except in a few places, including Greece, Ukraine and a few American states, the commissioning parents have no legal standing before the birth; even if the child is genetically theirs, the surrogate can change her mind and keep the baby. Several developing countries popular with foreigners in need of a surrogate have started to turn them away.
人们所知道的，对代孕最早的描述是在一则丑陋的圣经故事中——《创世纪》，其中：无法怀孕的撒拉（Sara）让丈夫与她的侍女海夏甲（Hagar）同床共枕, 然后将侍女所生的孩子据为己有。正是这种对代孕自私自利的描述，至今深刻影响着人们对代孕的态度和法律的制定。许多国家认为无论当事人是否同意，代孕必然会造成伤害，因此完全禁止代孕。除了少数几个地方，包括希腊（Greece）、乌克兰（Ukraine）和美国的几个州，在孩子出生前，委托的父母没有法律权利，即使孩子的基因来自于他们，因此孕母可以改变主意，自己来养孩子。许多发展中国家都是外国人寻找代孕的热门地点，但这些国家已经开始采取限制措施了。
These restrictions are harmful. By pushing surrogacy to the legal fringes, they make it both more dangerous and more costly, and create legal uncertainty for all, especially the newborn baby who may be deemed parentless and taken into care. Instead, giving the gift of parenthood to those who cannot have it should be celebrated—and regulated sensibly.
这些限制措施弊大于利。代孕走向法律边缘，只会让代孕变得更加危险，成本更高，并且所有当事人都没有法律的保障，尤其是新生儿可能会被视为孤儿，然后送去福利院。相反，让那些没有能力怀孕的父母享受到天伦之乐，应该是一件值得赞扬并有相应立法的事情。
Getting surrogacy right matters more than ever, since demand is rising (see article). That is partly because fewer children are available for adoption, and partly because ideas about what constitutes a family have become more liberal. Surrogates used to be sought out only by heterosexual couples, and only when the woman had a medical problem that meant she could not carry a baby. But the spread of gay marriage has been followed by a rise in male couples turning to surrogates to complete their newly recognised families. And just as more women are becoming single parents with the help of sperm donation, more men are seeking to do so through surrogates.
因为代孕的需求量在不断上升，所以正确处理代孕问题比以往都要重要。代孕需求量的上升，一部分是因为可供领养的孩子减少了，还有一部分是因为对家庭组合的观念变得更加开放了。过去只有异性伴侣中女方有健康问题，不能孕育孩子时，才会寻求代孕。但随着同性婚姻变得普遍，越来越多得男性伴侣们开始寻求代孕，他们希望借此让新家庭变得完整。并且，随着越来越多的女性通过精子捐赠成为单身母亲，更多地男性也在通过代孕成为单身父亲。
The modern version of surrogacy is nothing like the tale of Sara and Hagar. Nowadays, surrogates rarely carry babies who are genetically related to them, instead using embryos created in vitro 试管，体外with eggs and sperm from the commissioning parents, or from donors. They almost never change their minds about handing over the baby. On the rare occasions that a deal fails, it is because the commissioning parents pull out.
现代的代孕和撒拉与海夏甲的情况截然不同。如今，孕母几乎不会孕育带有自己基因的孩子，而只是使用在试管中形成的胚胎，胚胎中的卵子和精子都来自委托父母或捐赠者。孕母们几乎不会在孩子的归属上改变主意。即使少数情况下双方协议破裂，也是因为委托父母反悔。
A modern surrogacy law should recognise those intending to form a family as the legal parents. To protect the surrogate, it should demand that she obtain a doctor’s all-clear and enjoy good medical care. And to avoid disputes, both parties should sign a detailed contract that can be enforced in the courts, setting out in advance what they will do if the fetus is disabled, the surrogate falls ill or the commissioning parents break up.
现代的代孕法律应该承认那些想要组建家庭的父母的合法性。为了保护孕母，法律应该确认她们出院时获得了医生的健康许可，并享有良好的医疗条件。并且为了避免争议，双方应签一份具有法律效应的合同，将细节具体化，并提前列清如果胚胎出现问题、孕母生病或者委托父母违约应该如何做。
Emotional labour
情绪劳动
Laws should also let the surrogate be paid. Women who become surrogates generally take great satisfaction in helping someone become a parent. But plenty of jobs offer rewards beyond money, and no one suggests they should therefore be done for nothing. The fact that a surrogate in India or Nepal can earn the equivalent of ten years’ wages by carrying a child for a rich foreigner is a consequence of global inequality, not its cause. Banning commercial surrogacy will not change that.
应当制定法律保证孕母能够得到报酬。那些成为孕母的女性一般都很乐意帮助雇主，让他们享受为人父母的幸福，但其他许多工作也有金钱以外的回报，而且没人会认为，他们应该白做这份工作。事实上，印度或尼珀尔的一名孕母为富有的外国人代孕，得到的报酬相当于她十年的工资，这是全球不平衡的结果，而不是诱因，因此禁止商业代孕也不会改变现状。
Better to regulate it properly, and insist that parents returning home with a child born to a surrogate abroad can prove that their babies have been obtained legally and fairly. Becoming a parent should be a joy, not an offence.
更好的办法就是合理立法，并要求到国外请人代孕的父母，抱孩子回国时要证明孩子是合法的。成为父母应该是件喜事，而不是作恶。
编译：赵若蝉
编辑：钦君
来源：经济学人