Who's the Mother? The Limits of Outsourcing

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"Surrogacy" as a way of making babies was introduced to Americans in the 1980's, not as a result of technological advances, but as a new marketing phenomenon. The technology was "artificial insemination," which has been around for over a hundred years. With time, the marketing became more sophisticated and so did the technology. Surrogacy is now one more form of globalized industry.

What does a pregnancy mean when it is up for hire? Are wombs rentable units? How are some families privileged and some negated with--and without--new technologies? These are some of the tough questions raised by "surrogacy," which will be discussed by Barbara Katz Rothman, PhD, professor of sociology at the City University of New York.

Her books include: In Labor, The Tentative Pregnancy, Recreating Motherhood, and Centuries of Solace. Katz Rothman is past president of two national sociological professional associations: Sociologists for Women in Society and the Society for the Study of Social Problems.