Surrogate Motherhood
Author: Martha A Field
A practice known since biblical times, surrogate motherhood has only recently leaped to prominence as a way of providing babies for childless couples—and leaped to notoriety through the dramatic case of Baby M. Contract surrogacy is officially little more than ten years old, but by 1986 five hundred babies had been born to mothers who gave them up to sperm donor fathers for a fee, and the practice is growing rapidly. Martha Field examines the myriad legal complexities that today enmesh surrogate motherhood, and also looks beyond existing legal rules to ask what society wants from surrogacy.
A man's desire to be a "biological" parent even when his wife is infertile-the father's wife usually adopts the child-has led to this new kind of family, and modern technology could further extend surrogacy's appeal by making gestational surrogates available to couples who provide both egg and sperm. But is surrogacy a form of babyselling? Is the practice a private matter covered by contract law, or does adoption law govern? Is it good or bad social and public policy to leave surrogacy unregulated? Should the law allow, encourage, discourage, or prohibit surrogate motherhood? Ultimately the answers will depend on what the American public wants.
In the difficult process of sorting out such vexing questions, Martha Field has written a landmark book. Showing that the problem is rather too much applicable law than too little, she discusses contract law and constitutional law, custody and adoption law, and the rights of biological fathers as well as the laws governing sperm donation. Competing values are involved all along the legal and social spectrum. Field suggests that afederal prohibition would be most effective if banning surrogacy is the aim, but federal prohibition might not be chosen for a variety of reasons: a preference for regulating surrogacy instead of driving it underground; a preference for allowing regulation and variation by state; or a respect for the interests of people who want to enter surrogacy arrangements. Since the law can support a wide variety of positions, Field offers one that seems best to reconcile the competing values at stake. Whether or not paid surrogacy is made illegal, she suggests that a surrogate mother retain the option of abiding by or canceling the contract up to the time she freely gives the child to the adopting couple. And if she cancels the contract, she should be entitled to custody without having to prove in court that she would be a better parent than the father.
Library Journal
Of the many titles in the wake of the Baby M surrogate mother lawsuit, this one by Harvard law professor Field provides a particularly clear and comprehensive overview of the subject. Among the topics she discusses are federal regulation of surrogacy, the rights of biological fathers, and custody and adoption law. Throughout, she considers the pros and cons of potential legal and fairness arguments, some of which apply to the newest fertility technologies, including extracorporeal embryos. Field concludes that surrogacy contracts should be legal, but unenforceable if the birth mother objects. The appendix, which gives the legal status of surrogacy throughout the country, is most useful. Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., New York
Booknews
Field sorts out the legal issues involved in the surrogate motherhood debate so that a layperson can understand them. Since the first edition of 1988 (Harvard U. Press), several states and foreign countries have enacted laws to deal with surrogacy, and the updated appendix reflects those changes and provides an analysis of how surrogacy law is actually developing. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Book review: The Marketplace of Revolution or Government By the People National Version
Managing Organizational Change: Second Edition
Author: Patrick E E Connor
About the first edition:" . . . Written in a practical forthright style . . . Appropriate for an undergraduate, a graduate student, or a business person interested in the `big picture' of the process of organizational change." Personnel Psychology A revision and update of Connor and Lake's classic text on the management of organizational change--a practical guide to understanding and effecting changes in your organization. The text is a complete sourcebook of current ideas and trends in organizational change--how it comes about, who participates, how it is concluded, and the obstacles often faced. An excellent introduction to corporate innovation and its management.
Table of Contents:
| Tables, Figures, and Questionnaires | ||
| Preface | ||
| 1 | Managing Organizational Change | 1 |
| 2 | Getting Started | 17 |
| 3 | Objects of Change | 37 |
| 4 | Technological and Structural Methods of Change | 69 |
| 5 | Managerial and Human Methods of Change | 91 |
| 6 | Strategies for Change | 117 |
| 7 | Who's Who in the Change Process | 139 |
| 8 | Change Policy | 169 |
| 9 | Conducting the Change | 187 |
| 10 | Ethical Issues in Managing Change | 221 |
| Selected Bibliography | 243 | |
| Index | 247 |
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