ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE TOWARD SURROGACY AND LEGALIZING SURROGACY

Running head: SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy Nguyen Le Anh Thu – Phan Su Bao Han Course BBUS 4.4 Bussiness Academic Skills June 12th, 2014 Instructor: Dr Duong Thi Hoang Oanh SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Abstract This study examined attitudes of Vietnamese toward two sensitive issues: surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy These issues were considered through results collected by using questionnaire from internet users Results of the study provide data to demonstrate the existence of social prejudices Although surrogacy brings many benefits, these prejudices along with some other disadvantages are barriers to legalize surrogacy This research was done to support legalizing surrogacy in Vietnam SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy Infertility or inability to give a birth used to be one of the most difficult problems that have no solution Fortunately, thanking to the development of science and technology, people nowadays can solve effectively this problem by applying methods of modern medicine such as artificial insemination and surrogacy However, while surrogacy has been legal in United State, India, Russia…, it has been being illegal in other ones including Vietnam Although the rate of infertile couples and the demand for surrogacy is increasing dramatically in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice is still considering on whether to allow such births under the law It is believed that referendum should be done in order to make a reasonable decision of legalizing surrogacy Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalization of surrogacy This paper is hoped to be a document that partially contributes to the decision of legalizing surrogacy Literature review Most people have heard about surrogacy but probably some not understand what surrogacy is According to Brandco Lawfrim (n.d.), surrogacy is the case in which after in vitro fertilization, if the mother has some health problems or certain conditions, they will hire other woman to be pregnant and birth Mr Nguyen Viet Tien (2013), vice minister of health, stated that surrogacy is a medical achievement which makes the dream of motherhood become reality for infertile women at the conference Besides, Duong Dang Hue (2013), director of the Civil and Economic Department at the Ministry of Justice explains the new reforms: many couples in need of surrogacy have resorted to asking hospitals for permission to engage in surrogacy After having read these letters, many doctors have felt the pain of these couples Though they want to SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE help them, they not want to break the law, which led to a number of doctors submitting a request to Ministry of Justice to consider the issue on humanitarian grounds Nevertheless, some people still worry about the disadvantages brought by surrogacy For example, Nguyen Huy Quang (2013), chief of the legal department of the health ministry, is afraid about conflicts between real mother and surrogate mother because surrogacy destroys biological regulation that the baby is the child of a woman who gives birth At the National Assembly discussed the Draft Law on marriage and family (as amended), according to deputy Cao Thi Xuan (2014), surrogacy regulations for humanitarian purposes meet the needs of couples husband's infertility, but the incalculable consequences of surrogate hid trade nature, conflict, hurt the mother and children that the law is difficult to handle base In fact, the implementation of this technique is very expensive so only wealthy families could be done Deputy Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (2014) also had the same idea She said that the percentage of people who are awareness of this problem is limited Even if they know, they may have little sympathy because this technique is expensive Thus, only the wealthy can proceed, which inadvertently creates more wealth discrimination Recently, legalizing surrogacy is concerned particularly and many conferences are organized However, mixed opinions still exist so it’s difficult to make resasonable decision Method This research is conducted using quantitative method Participants SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Various individuals participated in the research by answering a questionnaire observed through Internet There were totally 92 Vietnamese respondents Their detail is showed in the Table below Gender Age Table 1: Study Participants Participants Male Female 41 51 Under 18 18-25 Above 25 85 Total 92 Total 92 It can be seen that the proportions of two genders seems to be the same Most of participants of the research are young generation (18 – 25 years old), who would be parenthoods in the near future, so the Vietnamese in this research should be understood as participants who are Vietnamese young generations Materials The questionnaire used in the research (see Appendix A) was randomly issued to participants as a type of online survey It consisted of a seires of questions for gathering opinion from participants The questions were made in format of multiple choices Some of them aslo allowed respondents to share their own views on legalizing surrogacy in Vietnam The questionaire was designed in Vietnamese so that Vietnamses could be easy to access the topic, then it was translated into English Analysis The data collected and analyzed were used as confirmatory evidences to clarify issues mentioned in research question Result SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE The first part of the questionnaire was issued to investigate the attitudes of Vietnamese participants toward surrogacy The result was demonstrated in the table below Table 2: Attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy Attitudes/Intentions Husband disagreed with that his wife were a surrogate mother People chose surrogacy as an alternative method to make their own baby Idividual still keep negative attitudes toward surrogacy Participants Proportion (?/92) Percentage 59/92 64 % 33/92 36 % 84/92 91 % According to the survey result, most of Vietnamese (91% of respondents) has been keeping negative attitudes toward surrogacy When put in the position of the husband, 64% of Vietnamese participants tended to object against that their wifes were surrogate mother There is only 14 of 92 participants (15%) agreed and of 92 participants conditionally agreed with that The rest had no idea Besides, while 36% of respondents would choose surrogacy as an alternative way if they were incapable of giving a birth, 64% of them did not This displays that surrogacy is unpopular in Vietnam and Vietnamese seems to be still hesitate about surrogacy even if they not have another way to have their own child Participants’ attitudes toward legalizing surrogacy in Vietnam were also provided by this questionnaire The questionnaire data were showed in chart below The chart illustrate that the proportions of two different opinions were closely to equal It can be seen that 51% of participants agreed to legalize surrogacy while 49% of those were in contrast SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE The chart below, in the other hand, shows clearly uneven percentages of Vietnamese participants’ attitudes toward commercialising surrogacy 67% of participants believed that commercialising surrogacy – parents give amount of money to surrogate mother as the cost of helping them making their own child - was reasonable and acceptable In contrast, 36% of participants considered commercialising surrogacy as bad moral and custom Discussion Clear evidence is supported for an assertion that Vietnammes has been maitaining prejudice against surrogacy Nearly a half of participants disagreed with legalizing surrogacy because of some reasons First, they thought that legalizing surrogacy would give some individuals who have ability to give a birth naturally but fear hardship caused by being pregnant a chance to apply surrogacy for inhuman purposes Second, they supposed unexpected case that is difficult to respond For example, if an imperfection baby was born, who would take responsibility for this fault, parents or surrogate mother? It would be a hard problem because both of them might be the cause leading to this trouble It’s surprising that commercialising surrogacy, which the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice is still considering on, was not one of the negative situations majority of participants concern Whereas, more than a half of participants support legalizing surrogacy They believed that every couple crave to be parents so legalizing surrogacy was a humanitarian activity which helps infertile couple legally have their own child Moreover, although surrogacy has not been legal, it occurred stealthy in Vietnam This results in serious risk to baby and surrogate mother health and the situation of legal dispute SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE As a result, legalizing surrogacy would limit those bad situations It also was suggested that legalizing surrogacy creates legal employment opportunities, which may contribute to decrease in unemployment rate, and ease the prejudice of Vietnamese to surrogacy SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Conclusion The study found that Vietnamese has been maintaining prejudice against surrogacy Surrogacy have not been popular in Vietnam and Vietnamese seems to be still hesitate about surrogacy even if they not have another way to have their own child Moreover, the research found evidences for that Vietnamese nowadays does not consider commercializing surrogacy as bad moral and custom as many people thought In addition, the legalization of surrogacy is also supported by this paper The limits of this paper are the number of survey was small, the time for observation was short, so it could not represent for the whole country Although Vietnamese stills keep negative attitudes toward surrogacy, it cannot be denied that the advantages of legalizing surrogacy are greater than disadvantages It is especially significant to those who cannot naturally birth a child Surrogacy makes the dream of being parenthood of infertile couples be come true It will be inhuman if we ignore that longing Therefore, surrogacy is really a full of humane activity needs legalizing SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE 10 References Lo ngai viec mang thai ho se khien tre gap tranh chap (2014, May 27) anninhthudo.vn Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://www.anninhthudo.vn/Thoi-su/Lo-ngai-viec-mangthai-ho-se-khien-tre-gap-tranh-chap/552553.antd?keyword=mang%20thai%20h %E1%BB%99 Mot so van de phap ly ve mang thai ho (n.d.) Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://brandco.vn/service/nghien-cuu-trao-doi/mot-so-van-de-phap-ly-ve-mang-thaiho.html New surrogacy laws to allow couples chance at parenthood (2013, August 13) Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://vietnamnews.vn/opinion/243419/new-surrogacy-laws-to-allowcouples-chance-at-parenthood.html Vietnam considers legalizing surrogacy for humanitarian purposes (2013, April 17).Thanh Nien Daily Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://thanhniennews.com/politics/vietnamconsiders-legalizing-surrogacy-for-humanitarian-purposes-2763.html Vietnam deliberating on surrogate births - News VietNamNet (2013, May 25) Vietnam deliberating on surrogate births - News VietNamNet Retrieved June 8, 2014, from http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/society/74692/vietnam-deliberating-on-surrogatebirths.html SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Appendix A QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Mr/Ms, We are students from BBus program; class BBus 4.4, ISB of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City We are doing research on attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy Please give us your gender and your age • You are: a Male b Female a under 18 years old b from 18 to 25 old c above 25 years old I Attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy Have you ever seen a surrogacy before? a Yes b No Do you think that social prejudices against surrogacy still exist? a Yes b No If you can not birth naturally a child, may the surrogate be your alternative ? a Yes b No If you are in the position of a husband, will you consent to your wife to be surrogate mother? a Yes b No c Your own ideas: II Attitudes of Vietnamese toward the legalization of surrogacy 11 SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE 12 In your opinion, what are the advantages of legalizing surrogacy carrying? (Please tick the box if it is your answer) Legalizing surrogacy was a humanitarian activity which helps infertile parents legally have their own child Although surrogacy has not been legal, it occurred stealthy in Vietnam This results in serious risk to baby and surrogate mother health and the situation of legal dispute As a result, legalizing surrogacy would limit those bad situations Legalizing surrogacy creates legal employment opportunities, which may contribute to decrease in unemployment rate, and ease the prejudice of Vietnamese to surrogacy Your own ideas: ……… In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of legalizing surrogacy carrying? (Please tick the box if it is your answer) Legalizing surrogacy would give some individuals who have ability to give a birth naturally but fear hardship caused by being pregnant a chance to apply surrogacy for inhuman purposes Legalizing surrogacy may lead to unexpected case that is difficult to respond Your own ideas: … In your opinion, the commercialization of surrogacy, in other words, that the parents need a b a b to spend some money for surrogate mother is: Reasonable and acceptable Bad moral and custom In your opinion, should surrogacy be legalized? Yes No The end (Thank you for your corporation) [...].. .SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Appendix A QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Mr/Ms, We are students from BBus program; class BBus 4.4, ISB of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City We are doing research on attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy Please give us your gender and your age • 1 2 You are: a Male b Female a under 18 years old b from 18 to 25 old c above 25 years old I Attitudes. .. Your own ideas: II Attitudes of Vietnamese toward the legalization of surrogacy 11 SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE 5 12 In your opinion, what are the advantages of legalizing surrogacy carrying? (Please tick the box if it is your answer) Legalizing surrogacy was a humanitarian activity which helps infertile parents legally have their own child Although surrogacy has not been legal, it occurred... risk to baby and surrogate mother health and the situation of legal dispute As a result, legalizing surrogacy would limit those bad situations Legalizing surrogacy creates legal employment opportunities, which may contribute 6 to decrease in unemployment rate, and ease the prejudice of Vietnamese to surrogacy Your own ideas: ……… In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of legalizing surrogacy carrying?... of Vietnamese toward surrogacy 1 Have you ever seen a surrogacy before? a Yes b No 2 Do you think that social prejudices against surrogacy still exist? a Yes b No 3 If you can not birth naturally a child, may the surrogate be your alternative ? a Yes b No 4 If you are in the position of a husband, will you consent to your wife to be surrogate mother? a Yes b No c Your own ideas: II Attitudes of Vietnamese. .. (Please tick the box if it is your answer) Legalizing surrogacy would give some individuals who have ability to give a birth naturally but fear hardship caused by being pregnant a chance to apply surrogacy for 7 inhuman purposes Legalizing surrogacy may lead to unexpected case that is difficult to respond Your own ideas: … In your opinion, the commercialization of surrogacy, in other words, that the parents... own ideas: … In your opinion, the commercialization of surrogacy, in other words, that the parents need a b 8 a b to spend some money for surrogate mother is: Reasonable and acceptable Bad moral and custom In your opinion, should surrogacy be legalized? Yes No The end (Thank you for your corporation) ... to legalize surrogacy This research was done to support legalizing surrogacy in Vietnam SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy. . .SURROGACY AND ATTITUDES OF VIETNAMESE Abstract This study examined attitudes of Vietnamese toward two sensitive issues: surrogacy and legalizing surrogacy These issues... make a reasonable decision of legalizing surrogacy Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the attitudes of Vietnamese toward surrogacy and legalization of surrogacy This paper is hoped