“Extra! Extra! Aluga- se um útero”: vedação da gestação por substituição onerosa como reflexo da representação social de uma maternidade sacralizada ainda vigente no Brasil

Abstract

It is known that with the advancement of technoscience and medicine, it was possible for the subjects to overcome their reproductive difficulties and to fulfill their parenting projects through assisted human reproduction techniques, such as substitution pregnancy - a practice in which a woman gives in temporarily to her womb to give birth to another's child. However, it appears that in the absence of specific legislation on the subject, such reproductive practice has been authorized through Resolution nº. 2.168/2017 of the Federal Council of Medicine, which expressly prohibits its costly modality, popularly known as “belly for rent ”. Given the normative incompetence of this professional body, it is analyzed through the hypothetical deductive method and literature review, as well as documentary whether such prohibition is related (or not) to a sacralized social representation of motherhood. Thus, it is conceptualized what would be called pregnancy by substitution and how it has been treated in the Brazilian legal system. The following are the "legal" grounds relied upon to limit their legal recognition and whether they apply to the "surrogacy" case. Finally, we seek to relate the restriction of the womb's freedom of action to provide such a reproductive service through remuneration for a social norm of motherhood structured in an ontology of sexual difference, in which social roles to be played by men are established (domain of public space; production) and women (governability of private space; reproduction). In this context, costly substitution pregnancy is presented as a means of female resistance to predetermined concepts of motherhood, family, and work, provided that the willingness of the transferor is safeguarded through informed consent and legal recognition of such agreements as atypical legal business.