This is a research paper I wrote for my Writing and Research in the Disciplines course. It resonates with the changes that are happening in our world today regarding women’s health rights and how drastic the effect of these changes can be.
Introduction:
Amongst media discourse, the process of surrogacy has been framed in ways that have altered our views and raised many controversies. Some ideas and concepts that circulate this third-party method of reproduction have framed it as an “unnatural” way of starting a family. Its discourse in the media is vastly surrounded by observations and views based off situations that occurred during many celebrity pregnancies, highlighting those who chose the route of surrogacy. Do these frames center themselves around Elitism discourse in the media? This paper will analyze different frames propagated by the mainstream media that change public opinion about the process of surrogacy. It will also delve into the Elitism discourse and dissect whether it was a driving factor in this ongoing debate.
There has been minimal research done on this third-party method of reproduction, but an analysis done by Robert Barnet in his article, “Surrogate Parenting: Social, Legal and Ethical Implications”, dives headfirst into this newer method of starting a family and how ongoing media discourse has questioned the morality of the parents/ spouses/ individuals undergoing this so called “artificial process” (Barnet, 1987). While the mainstream media has raised concerns behind the naturalness of the process of surrogacy, not many sources have highlighted the ethical and moral constraints that it violates. A large sum of these questions on the ethical and moral constraints surrogacy may violate, have been raised based off what we see in the media about celebrity couples who indulge in this process. Moreover, not many studies talk about how this process affects the child who is a product of this “artificial method.”
This paper will perform an analysis by exploring the framing, discourse analysis and touch points on Marxist’s theory of classism and elitism in society by using a qualitative approach to gather data on mainstream media discourse and explore how it is a medium that affects public perception on this third-party method of reproduction. A good way to understand how the media operates is by looking at the laws and regulations that are set in place; in this case, we will analyze how the laws associated with surrogacy differ among countries like the United States and Norway to see if they have an affect on how the media makes it claims.
Literature Review:
One platform that is addressing controversial topics like surrogacy is “Candace Owens Podcast.” The host, Candace Owens, a hard right-wing conservative, takes an unfiltered stance on many political and cultural issues surrounding our world today (Owens, 2022). She dives deep and expresses her thoughts on the process of surrogacy and how she thinks it is being misused. Candace Owens talks about how several celebrities (amongst other people), like the Kardashians and Priyanka Chopra, have used the process of surrogacy to start a family as they may not have the time to go through the natural process or are simply unable to naturally conceive and dissects how this has framed surrogacy into being “unnatural” and even “ungodly” (Owens, 2022). Owens talks about how surrogacy, in the way that it is being used, is promoting an “anti-family” in our society today.
Author Susan Markens, in her article, talks about how the media, especially in the United States, has become a very prevalent “claim-maker” in our daily lives and how society conforms to these claims. Even though most people receive their information on health issues from news sources, some cognitive frames carefully constructed by the media change our opinion on new topics that are not as prevalent in the news (Markens, 2011). In other countries, scholars like Susan L. Crockin have analyzed how the media has framed surrogacy according to laws, regulations, and religion. In her article, she addresses the concept of cross border surrogacy and how it is the aftermath of changing policies and laws due to influenced societal opinion of the process of surrogacy through the media (Crockin, 2013). Research done to prove the validity of surrogacy, helps us gauge the importance of it but due to rising debate surrounding the authenticity of this process, its sincerity falls short.
Authors Nora Levold, Marit Svingen and Margrethe Aune discuss how cognitive frames used in the media influenced a Norwegian woman to travel to India to have surrogate twins but was not allowed back into Norway as authorities refused to give the newborns passports. This can be referenced back to author Crockin’s article about cross border surrogacy and how it is the aftermath of policy changes due to media discourse around surrogacy. These authors dig deep into how this version of surrogacy raised media debate in three different sectors of the storyline of biological parenthood, human trafficking, and equality. Moreover, their analysis shows how these frames altered views on surrogacy on an international level (Levold et al., 2019). Moreover, it does not depict the negative effects this discourse has on the children that are a product of this process.
Methods:
Before dissecting and analyzing these frames, we need to understand what “frames/framing” is. Framing, relative to literature, is essentially used by politicians and the media to segregate a concept from its actual meaning and propose it as something else. In this case, we will be looking at how surrogacy has been framed using concepts such as being “unnatural,” promoting an “anti-family”, being “ungodly”, and the “easy way out” (Owens, 2022). While using a qualitative approach to compare, contrast, and explore these frames, we will also perform a discourse analysis that will delve into how the media makes its claims and why it so quickly influences society. Lastly, we can discuss the Elitism involved in this discourse by looking at Marx’s theory and ideologies that state that to attain any progress in human development, we would need dismantle the sense of different classes in society.
Analysis:
In the mainstream media, platforms such as Candance Owens Podcast, presents us with the ongoing media discourse surrounding surrogacy. In her episode, “the dark truth behind surrogacy,” she talks about various celebrity experiences with this third-party process of reproduction and how in the United States, only the wealthy can afford to undergo this process. She discusses different celebrity pregnancies that were done by a surrogate differed from case to case and brought forth new frames that contribute to this discourse. A good example of a celebrity couple that sparked many controversies in the media was Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas. Owens states that this couple openly stated that that they turned to surrogacy as they were too busy to have a child naturally. Some days her fertility schedules would not align, other days, he was too busy shooting, so they decided to get a gestational surrogate (someone who is paid for her service) (Owens, 2022). Now, the media doesn’t shame something when it is done for the right reasons, but when it comes to cases that like these where a couple is “too busy” to naturally create a child and in turn, use a surrogate to do it for them, that is what paves a path for frames such as “taking the easy way out” to come forward.
Another celebrity that turned to surrogacy was Kim Kardashian. Owens talks about how Kim, who had already had two children through the natural birthing process and had faced complications during both her pregnancies, had decided to go through the process of surrogacy simply because she wanted 2 more kids. In the media, this highlights the elitism discourse in media as it shows that the wealthy can indulge in these processes just for the sake of it. Its not wrong to start a family,” says Owens, “but it is wrong to use your privilege and money to indulge in this process.” She states that due to these celebrities misusing this process, the media, being an active “claim-maker” (Markens, 2011), has framed surrogacy as “anti-family” process.
To shift our focus onto what part of the mainstream media is responsible for framing surrogacy as “anti-family” or “the easy way out”, we can delve into the Conservative arguments presented in George Lakoff’s article highlighting how conservatives like Candace Owens, being more right wing, believe in a nuclear family expressed as the “Strict Father Model” as opposed to Liberals who are mainly left-wing, propose the “Nurturant Parent Model”. Both models depict two different ideas of what a family should be and how it should function but seeing as the Strict Father Model presented by conservative arguments believes in a nuclear family that consists of a father, mother, and children, proposes the idea that conservatives would challenge this new method of reproduction. Based off conservative arguments of a nuclear family, we can see that surrogacy would immediately be framed as an “unnatural form of reproduction” by the media as it goes against the naturalness of starting a family (Lakoff, 1995).
As Candace Owens talks about gestational surrogacy in the United States, those who can not afford this process indulge in cross border surrogacy where people go to countries like India where surrogacy and other reproductive methods like IVF are available for half the price (Owens, 2022). Unlike the Untied States where surrogacy laws differ between states, some countries like Norway do not support the process of surrogacy at all. A case where a Norwegian woman was not allowed back into Norway after going to India to find a surrogate for her twins as the Norwegian authorities did not consider these children citizens of Norway and further suggested that this woman was taking part in “human trafficking” (Levold et. Al, 2019). The laws that prevented these kids from attaining proper Norwegian passports can be seen to be implemented due to how surrogacy is portrayed in the media as an” unnatural” from of reproduction further suggesting its validity relative to laws and regulations (Crockin, 2013). Owens addresses how couples in the United States that cannot afford this process and participate in cross border surrogacy do not realize that even though they are getting it for a good price, the remaining embryos (surrogates are implanted with many to increase chances of getting pregnant) are sold off on the dark web to make money. This frames surrogacy as a means for “human trafficking” and influences the public perceptions of surrogacy in a negative and commodified way.
Discussion:
The exploration of these celebrity cases discussed and dissected by Candance Owens as well as point of views presented by the other scholars emphasizes surrogacy as a commodity that fosters narratives of being “unnatural,” “anti-family,” or even to the extremity of “human trafficking.” The qualitative analysis uncovers how the mainstream media frames this third-party method of reproduction through an elitist lens, making it so that it is accessible to the wealthy such as celebrities which unfortunately ruins its reputation and feeds into a discourse of exclusion. By looking at George Lakoff’s article, we can see that a newer process like surrogacy is challenged by strict conservative framing in the mainstream media which proves that the media is not just a reporter/ claim-maker, but it also has a strong influence on public opinion and moral judgement.
Conclusion:
By reinforcing these frames, the media enhances societal differences on the process of surrogacy, highlighting a classist barrier to newer reproductive strategies. This paper analyzed and explored how these frames propagated by the mainstream media shaped our public perceptions on the process of surrogacy. To conduct this research only one primary resource, Candace Owens Podcast, was used to gather direct examples on how the media is framing surrogacy. By using other media platforms, we can perform further analysis on this topic and work towards fostering a broader understanding and acceptance of this diverse method of building a family. The studies and the research presented can help modify views and perceptions of this new third-party method of reproduction, and in turn open many doors for people who are left with this process as their only hope.
Bibliography:
Barnet, R. (1987, August). Surrogate parenting: Social, legal and ethical implications. The Linacre Quarterly https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol54/iss3/9/?utm_source=epublications.marquette.edu%2Flnq%2Fvol54%2Fiss3%2F9&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.
Crockin, S. L. (2013, June 22). Growing families in a shrinking world: Legal and ethical challenges in cross-border surrogacy. Reproductive Bio-Medicine Online. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472648313003519?casa_token=IwNqfczFm3UAAAAA%3ALaMKmdcvIH5LjZWYxG1iEIOJM4ye2tyIvlwPu9Y8-QeWZMLT5k3_G2GYYjEsFAArWJ4CjUE-9xc
Lakoff, G. (1995). Metaphor, Morality, and Politics, Or, Why Conservatives Have Left Liberals In the Dust. John’s Hopkins University Press, 62(No. 2), 177–213. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226411323.001.0001
Levold, N., Svingen, M., & Aune, M. (2019, May 19). Stories of creation: Governance of surrogacy through media? Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/njsts/article/view/3066.
Markens, S. (2011, October 3). The Global Reproductive Health Market: U.S. media framings and public discourses about transnational surrogacy. Social Science & Medicine. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953611005818?casa_token=3z 7QKIAtz9sAAAAA%3AWb6DCq3nyO0ttCxOpQslI83gQioBYGJbdC69meSbx2jgG466eJdjojE0hFd2ET_ZHpGp99pWCtA
Owens, C. (2022, September 26). Inside the dark reality of the surrogacy industry | EP. 11. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbeqU9mgNPI&t=848s&ab_channel=CandaceOwensPodcast.