The surrogacy question, unresolved: surrogacy policy debate as a hegemonic struggle over rights

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sweden is often described as a ‘moderate’ country when it comes to legislation and policy on assisted reproductive technologies, being relatively permissive with regards to their use, but only permitting them within a strictly regulated framework. The ‘surrogacy question’, however, remains a polarized issue in media debates and has become a key topic of public negotiation and contestation around the meaning of a range of rights. This article investigates how surrogacy became a topic for policy debate in Swedish opinion journalism between 2009 and 2019. Drawing on discourse theory, the article investigates which, and ‘whose’, rights are mobilized in the debate, as well as how these rights are differently articulated and ‘filled with meaning’. It argues that polarized discourse coalitions are formed across the political spectrum, and that the absence of explicit legislation on surrogacy has led to a pragmatic ‘split policy’ which keeps both opponents and proponents unsatisfied, keeping the debate alive.