The good news is that seven of 13 Filipino women trafficked into Cambodia to become surrogate birth mothers have been repatriated, and are now reunited with their families. The women, whose wombs were used to grow babies not necessarily their biological offspring, have received royal pardon for violating laws in Cambodia that prohibit such practice. Jan.
1, or New Year’s Day, is celebrated in the Catholic Church as the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, mother of Jesus. In several instances in the Bible and even in the Quran, Mary giving birth is mentioned in a big way. A woman’s womb is as sacred a space as any for it is where life grows.
Consider Jesus’ words: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you,” (Luke 11:27-28), in response to one praising his mother—Mary obviously—who had raised him. And yet in our day and age, women’s wombs have become a commercial commodity, a space for hire, and in worse situations such as forced arrangements, a breeding ground for babies these surrogate women can never consider their own as they will be taken away from them. But I make no moral judgment on couples or singles who had availed of the scientific procedure in foreign countries where it is legal and done under certain financial arrangements.
According to an Inquirer news report by Kathleen de Villa, three of the repatriated women have already given birth while the rest are due to deliver their babies this year. “Of the three babies [who] were r.