Conceiving Family : A Practical Theology of Surrogacy and Self

Biology continues to bethe most widely recognized determinant of family in the United States and heterosexual intercourse the most common form of family creation. But what happens when children cannot be created in this way? Is it still possible to create a family? Surrogacyprovides an alternativemeans of conception, not onlyto heterosexual couples whoencounter infertility or reproductive loss,but also tosingle, same-sex,ortransgender individualswhowant to have children. However, surrogacy itself raises a number of concerns, arguably introducing as many difficulties as it solves. In Conceiving Family , Danielle Tumminio Hansen tacklesthe unnamed and unexamined problems surrounding surrogacy within a theological framework. Tumminio Hansen begins by investigating the primacy of the biological familyand the profound influenceithashadonhowinfertility and reproductive loss have been understood culturally. By using theUnited States, Israel, and India as case studies, TumminioHansen profiles the cultural constructionsof surrogacyand the complications surrounding it in places where the biological family is considered the norm. Through a theological lens, Conceiving Family analyzes what is at stake for the self, family, and societyin surrogacy; througha close reading of the Bible it proposes that surrogacy is only as healthy for the individualas society'sviews allow. Tumminio Hansenshows howacultural misconception of surrogacyisolates the parents, surrogates, and childreninvolvedthroughself-alienation, community alienation, and divine-human alienation. She concludes that surrogates and intended parentsmusttherefore construct their relationships in terms of social belonging,and that this process affords human dignity to those involved by expanding community beyond the simple science of biological connection. In Conceiving Family Tumminio Hansen ultimately reclaims surrogacy as an act that exists both within and beyond the reproductive realm, concluding that surrogacy has the potential to transform the identities ofparenthood and community,re-conceiving family in the process.