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Paper short abstract

Current politicized debates about vaccine safety are particularly fierce when it comes to persons planning a pregnancy, pregnant people, and children. This paper examines these debates through the complex lens of gestational surrogacy using U.S. and German ethnographic data and newspaper reportage.

Paper long abstract

Vaccinations are widely regarded as one of the most effective tools in the global fight against communicable diseases. At the same time, debates about vaccine safety and effectiveness have become increasingly politicized worldwide. These debates intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when novel vaccines were developed and deployed at unprecedented speed. While vaccination decisions proved challenging for many who had access to vaccinations, they were particularly complex for individuals who were pregnant or planning to become pregnant, as such decisions affected not only themselves but also the fetus.

These challenges are further amplified in the context of surrogacy, a reproductive arrangement in which one person carries a child for others. Here, differing views on vaccination can create conflicts between the commissioning “intended parents’” desire to ensure the health of the future child and the surrogate’s right to bodily autonomy. Moreover, uncertainties remain regarding the potential long-term effects of these decisions on the child, whether resulting from infection or from possible side effects of vaccination. While the “blended bodies” of surrogates and the babies they carry are physically affected, decision-making is distributed between surrogates and intended parents and embedded within broader social and cultural contexts of politicized vaccination debates.

Drawing on collaborative research on gestational surrogacy in the United States and Germany, in this paper we analyze this complex and delicate situation and examine the particular social and ethical challenges that arise from uncertain responsibility within the relational setting of surrogacy.