Some couples who are unable to have children will use a third person to make pregnancy possible. Either sperm from a male donor will be used to fertilize the wife’s eggs via
in-vitro fertilisation, or the husband’s sperm will be implanted in a woman who will become pregnant and give up the child when it is born. Most religions condemn surrogate parenthood saying that it violates the sacredness of
marriage and requires
masturbation, which they consider to be a
sin. Buddhism takes a different perspective. If the couple who wish to have the child and the surrogate parents agree amongst themselves to carry out the procedure, it is difficult to see what harm has been done. However, surrogate parenthood is an arrangement fraught with potential legal, social and possibly even psychological problems and childless couples might do better to consider adoption.