My initial reaction is I'm not a fan of ivf, and support strong limits on insurance coverage of it. Insurance aside, it seems to fuck with people's heads quite often. That said, I never experienced any fertility issue, so I recognize my perspective comes from a fortunate place, and I'm therefore inclined to dial back back my view that it is not a great thing. I recognize it is a great blessing for many.
But I think that obsession with having (bio) kids is, like any obsession, a bad thing. I have seen a lot of people just mentally destroyed by a desperation to have children and also by going through ivf. And marriages, too - because the stress from the obsession, and often the ultimate failure of it, sucked the life out of the relationship.
Don't think it should be banned, but I don't like it when it becomes a grueling, destructive mission, and I don't think insurance should provide unlimited coverage for it.
I don't care about surrogacy that much, though I think gestational surrogacy (implanted embryo from mother and father, or third-party donor(s)) is preferable to traditional surrogacy (using the surrogate's egg). I understand the trafficking and exploitation concerns, and obviously don't support that/ support intense screening, counseling, and regulation of organizations and participants involved in it. But I don't really care about a stable, grown,
compos mentis woman carrying a baby created from the intended parents' egg and sperm.
As a side note, I don't consider it "stealing a baby from its mother." People give up children at birth all the time, or decide while pregnant to do so. That's a choice, not a theft. If a surrogate changes her mind, even at/post-birth, outcome can depend on jurisdiction and on whether the surrogacy is traditional or gestational. Overall, laws in the US are something of a
patchwork, and though they tend to favor upholding the agreement (particularly in gestational surrogacies), there are different time frames for establishing legal parentage, and states vary on enforceability. Gestational pregnancies are more clear-cut, because there is no biological link between the surrogate and the child; a traditional surrogacy could be more complicated if the surrogate/mother changes her mind. In the UK, a surrogate is deemed the parent at birth and for 6 weeks, after which a parental order is typically granted that confirms the intended parents as the legal parents.
Intended parents are also typically held to the contract. (See, Sherri Shephard).
Most surrogacies don't end up in that place.
That's called traditional surrogacy, and it can be even more batshit insane and freaky than third-party surrogacy.
Traditional surrogacy is when the surrogate's egg is used (artificial insemination [one hopes]). A relative being the surrogate could be either a traditional or gestational surrogacy. (And I personally find it kind of creepy at a base level, sentiment aside, but don't care too much and possibly would be
uncreeped less creeped if I actually knew people who were doing it.)
Divorce is financially and socially ruinous for a lot of men.
Women are much worse off after divorce than men. I've posted the data before.
That aside, your comment that the $100k to create or buy a child is cheaper than child support makes no sense.
You still have to raise the child. And I can assure you that the actual cost of raising a child exceeds child support awards.
In law the child of a unmarried mother belongs to the mother only, and the mother is the person who has just demonstrably shoved the baby out of her own body.
This is NOT the law in all jurisdictions for surrogate situations, and not even the default today in standard non-surrogacy pregnancy situations in many jurisdictions. If you're going to try to flex on legal matters, know what you're saying first, or provide appropriate qualifiers. (It appears that the current law in the UK is that at birth (assuming a live birth; there were some possible nuances suggested by the Law Commission a year ago for various death scenarios) the surrogate is the parent; but not everywhere has a "post-birth" scheme for legal patentage. Also of note is that
in the UK, surrogacy agreements are not even enforceable. And technically you are only supposed to cover expenses (see prior link), though it is not illegal to pay more; the Family Court does review for reasonableness, but apparently they've never found any amount to be too much.
Your "I'm explaining contract law to you" comment was also incorrect/assumed certain terms in hypothetical contracts. Contracts, though they may have certain required provisions per law, depending on jurisdiction, are also at least partly negotiated. Negotiated terms can include requiring full compensation for, say, a stillborn baby or a miscarriage (though miscarriages are frequently pro-rated, and so could a stillborn death be) - but the point is that it
can be purely a service contract, depending on the terms.