Lux Terra Chapel Reassesses Surrogacy At Mother’s Day Event

Lux Terra Chapel on Sunday, 19 April this year, joined fellow Catholic communities in Nigeria to mark Mother’s Day, a time when the beauty, sanctity and dignity of motherhood among Christians were recognised and celebrated.

The highlight of the event included a talk presented by Dr Gloria Ode on some of the abuses linked to surrogacy. The manner in which many Nigerian single women or married couples increasingly resort to surrogacy.

It was noted that some of the growing practices in this sector amount to an abuse of the female body and an affront on the divine vocation and dignity of motherhood.

While acknowledging the pain of childless couples who desperately desire to have their own children, the awareness of members was raised to the widespread exploitation of poor young women whose eggs are harvested for IVF procedures. These women are often paid a pittance.

Also mentioned were those whose wombs are rented with paltry sums for the gestation of babies, stating that the procedures often involve complex invasive medical interventions, that the poor, vulnerable woman hired for the task often knows very little about. And how the procedures can lead to possible long-term negative physiological and psycho-emotional implications.

Such practices, according to discussants at the event, apart from reducing motherhood to mere economic transactions, amount to the trafficking of poor, vulnerable young women.

The development is particularly troubling in the alleged case of rich Nigerian women who suffer no infertility problems, but resort to surrogacy, so that they can keep their body shape.

It was observed that IVF and Surrogate Motherhood are largely unregulated areas in Nigerian medical practice, and called on concerned individuals and agencies, including the leadership of Christian Churches, to put urgent pressure on the Federal Government to put in place adequate and effective regulatory frameworks for the practice of IVF and Surrogacy in Nigeria.

Another critical highlight of the Mother’s Day celebration was the call by the Chaplain, Fr. George Ehusani, for all men in the Chapel to stand up and apologise on behalf of the menfolk of all generations for the widespread lack of acknowledgement of the immense sacrifices that motherhood entails, and for the physical, sexual and psychological abuses and/or violence that many mothers and women have suffered at the hands of men in the past.

This gesture by the men in the Lux Terra chapel was received with thunderous applause from all the women present.