Adoption challenges traditional views of maternity by usurping the idea that women naturally care for and bring up their own biological children.  In adoption, a woman gives up her biological child, which is then taken up by another family who care for and nurture the child and act as parents.  These parents generally are not biologically related to the child, and in fact, it is rare for either set of parents ever to meet.  This challenges tradition views of maternity by completely ignoring the weight held by blood ties and nature, instead placing all substance on social, contractual terms.  What becomes the mother is maternal only by law and choice, and has no biological relationship to the child.  This undermines the closely held value of blood ties and maternity that are deemed so important by American culture and leaves instead only social ties.  Many adoptees argue that the bond built by so-called social ties is nothing to be scoffed at.  One adoptee who considered her real mother [as] the person who adopted, raised, and loved her clearly stated, I would never want a different mother than I have.  I mean, shes my mother (Modell 1994:168).  Regardless, many adoptees do search for their birth parents, and though their reasons vary, many are simply looking to answer all those whys (Modell 1994:143).  These whys could be anything from familial medical history to a search for their roots (Modell 1994:143).  This search for birth mothers reveals how reinforced the ideas of blood relatives are within American society.  Without such an ingrained significance placed on blood as a means of defining family, there would be no reason to search for a birth mother.  This desire shows the focus that leads many to become as close as possible to any blood relations.

     Traditional surrogacy offers yet another challenge to maternity by giving an intentional couple a paternal link to their child.  Traditional surrogacy works by allowing a couple to provide sperm that then is inseminated into another woman that gestates the child using her own egg.  This twists the biological role of maternity by providing a biological link through the intending mothers husband, but not from herself.  This gives a slightly closer link than adoption, as one of the parents is biologically linked to the child, though traditionally motherhood is seen as greatly strengthened by genetics and gestation.  Maternity, however, remains skewed because the intending mother still has no biological ties to the child.  Many women, however, feel consoled in the fact that their husband is still the biological father, thus holding some biological ties within the family.  These cases can be very contestable because the surrogate provides all biological ties while the intending mother provides the social.  In the controversial case In Re Baby M, the contracting couple, the Sterns, contracted Mary Beth Whitehead to gestate their child using William Sterns sperm for $10,000 (Dolgin 1997:80-93).  Though she signed the contract, Mary Beth Whitehead decided mid-term that she was not willing to give up the child and fled to Florida (Dolgin 1997:80-93).  This brought up an interesting case, because it divided the issue of maternity before the law and posed the question as to which held more ground: biological maternity or lawful maternity.  Held in New Jersey, the trail court upheld the rights of the Sterns to the child based on best interest but the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of biological ties, giving rights to both William Stern and Mary Beth Whitehead, the biological parenthood (Dolgin 1997:80-93).  The contest over biological and contractual maternity is much disputed because it divides it into biology and social choice.  This separates the traditional views that biological ties and blood relatives are central to family, and instead places significance on the actual interaction with the child.  Traditional surrogacy is contestable because it draws a clear line between the biological and social aspects of maternity.

     Gestational surrogacy adds yet another twist on maternity issues by dividing the biological aspect of maternity, which make its line much fuzzier.  In it, the intending mother and father provide genes through their egg and sperm respectively, which is joined and implanted in vitro into another woman who then gestates the child.  This separates biological maternity in half, giving genetics to one woman, and gestation to the other.  Though closer to traditional values than adoption and traditional surrogacy, gestational surrogacy still splits maternity because though the intending mother is genetically and socially the mother of the child, she did not actually gestate it.  This split in maternity gives the intending mother both a biological and social tie to her child, yet still lacks what many see as an integral part biologically.  Gestational surrogacy is often performed using a woman the intending couple knows as the gestational surrogate.  In one particular case, a married couple, Kay and Michael, asked Michaels sister Rachel to gestate their child (Thompson 2001:182-185).  This resulted in Rachel being both the gestational mother and the lawful aunt of the child.  Such cases of inter-family gestational mothers mangle the American cultural ideologies concerning the family.  Gestational surrogacy splits maternity biologically, raising the question as to what holds importance biologically: genetics or gestation.  This split created once again shows the importance placed on biological kinship as the intending mother strives to become what is seen as traditionally real by creating a biological tie to the child.

     By examining the variety of challenges placed on traditional views of maternity by adoption and both tradition and gestational surrogacy, it becomes evident that the American cultural value placed on maternal biology is very influential.  Many adoptees claim that their adoptive parents are their real parents, yet the importance of blood is still shown as many adoptees do eventually endeavor to find their biological parents.  Traditional surrogacy provides a paternal link to a child, bringing the mother closer though not through her own blood but by her husbands.  Gestational surrogacy provides a truer link, and the intending mother actually provides the genetic link through her egg, though another woman gestates the child.  These all offer a twist on the traditional ideologies held concerning the mother as a biological, natural mother by altering the actual blood ties and distorting the importance of nature.  Though a desire for blood ties continues, adoption and surrogacy reconfigure cultural values of maternity by placing a heavier emphasis on choice and contract.

Works Cited

Dolgin, Janet L.  Defining the Family: Law, Technology, and Reproduction in an Uneasy Age.  New York: New York UP 1997.

Modell, Judith S.  Kinship with Strangers: Adoption and Interpretations of Kinship in America.  Los Angeles: University of California Press 1994.

Schneider, David M.  American Kinship: A Cultural Account.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1980.

Thompson, Charise.  Strategic Naturalizing: Kinship in an Infertility Clinic.  Durham:  Duke UP 2001.