RELIGIO-ETHICAL PERCEPTION OF SURROGACY AND ITS APPLICABILITY TO INFERTILITY IN THE 21STCENTURY

Abstract

In contemporary times, infertility has become a common place in some marriages. This has led to hard times and hard life for some young couples in Nigeria. The existence of this conundrum has led to various heartbrokenness and shattered homes. This is not unrelated to the typical African belief system where fertility is considered a cogent part of a marriage contract and a divine blessing in the home, while infertility is seen as a curse from God. Surrogacy as an act that could be traced back to the Old Testament times has been a means of solving the problem of infertility in marriages. This paper investigates the rising trend of infertility in Nigeria with a closer look at the religious and ethical perspective of surrogacy and how it can be rightly applied in the modern marriages to solve the problems of infertility. This paper recommends the practice of surrogacy from the biblical and ethical points of view as well as how it conforms to the African view of marriage and procreation.