Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Study of the Transnational Surrogacy Industry

医疗旅游，包括代孕等生殖服务，是一个在很大程度上不受监管的不断增长的市场。特别是代孕，极具争议，而且只在全球少数几个司法管辖区是合法的。越来越多的人跨境旅行，雇佣女性怀孕和生孩子。然而，人们对这一过程知之甚少，包括某些地点如何成为国际代孕中心，妇女作为代孕母亲的经历，以及这一行业对新建立的代孕中心的当地政治和经济的影响。该项目将提供该行业运作和组织方面亟需的经验数据，以及代孕母亲和准父母的经验。这项研究还将有助于就在国际一级管制代孕的可行性和优点展开辩论。这项研究将提供一个平台，让受这一行业影响最大、但在有关代孕的法律和道德辩论中往往未被听到的妇女发出声音。该项目将引起政策制定者、医疗保健提供者和用户的兴趣。这项研究将有助于正在进行的关于医疗技术发展和新的全球市场出现之间的关系的讨论。这项研究解决了在全球化世界中规范新技术可能性的智力、物质和社会问题。这个项目是对代孕行业的多地点人种学研究。采用观察、访谈和档案研究相结合的方法，调查人员将收集关于1)代孕行业的历史和组织，2)关键参与者，包括他们参与代孕的历史，以及3)商业代孕谈判和经历的日常过程的信息。研究人员将调查国家和社区如何以及为什么成为全球代孕目的地，代孕行业是如何组织的，以及市场对不断变化的监管有何反应。

Medical tourism, including for reproductive services like surrogacy, is a growing market that is largely unregulated. Surrogacy, in particular, is highly controversial and only legal in a handful of jurisdictions globally. An increasing number of people are traveling across borders to hire women to gestate and birth children. However, very little is known about this process including how certain locations become hubs for international surrogacy, the experiences of women serving as surrogate mothers, and the impact of this industry on local politics and economics in newly-established surrogacy hubs. This project will deliver much needed empirical data on the operation and organization of the industry, as well as the experiences of surrogate mothers and intended parents. The study will also contribute to debates about the feasibility and merits of regulating surrogacy at the international level. This study will provide a platform for presenting the voices of the women who are most affected by this industry but are often unheard in legal and moral debates about surrogacy. This project will be of interest to policy makers, health care providers, and users.This study will contribute to an ongoing discussion of the relationship between developments in medical technologies and the emergence of new global markets. This research addresses the intellectual, material, and social problem of regulating new technological possibilities in a globalized world. This project is a multi-sited ethnographic study of the surrogacy industry. Employing a combination of observation, interviews, and archival research, the investigators will collect information about 1) the history and organization of the surrogacy industry, 2) the key actors, including the history of their involvement in surrogacy, and 3) the everyday processes through which commercial surrogacy is negotiated and experienced. The researchers will investigate how and why nations and communities became a global surrogacy destination, how the surrogacy industry is organized, and how the market reacts to changing regulations.