"Gestational Carriers"?

This week Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban announced the December 28th birth of Faith Margaret, born by a paid surrogate mother - the "gestational carrier." This is becoming a fairly popular option, particiarly for those who either can't have children, or perhaps simply don't want to go through a pregnancy themselves. This area can often be difficult to understand, so check out a few quick Catechism references to see the problem with "gestational carriers":

"Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses' "right to become a father and a mother only through each other." (CCC 2376)

"They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children." (CCC 2377)

"A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead." (CCC 2378)