Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Jun 21;20(1):94.
doi: 10.1186/s12978-023-01638-4.

Acceptance and attitude of Lebanese lawyers and medical students toward surrogate pregnancy: a cross-sectional study

Affiliations
Case Reports

Acceptance and attitude of Lebanese lawyers and medical students toward surrogate pregnancy: a cross-sectional study

Rashad Nawfal et al. Reprod Health. .

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the acceptance of specific populations of decision makers in Lebanon regarding surrogacy. This study aimed to explore the acceptance and attitude of Lebanese Lawyers and Medical Students regarding surrogacy.

Methods: In total 248 medical students and 204 lawyers completed a questionnaire to assess socio-demographic data, attitude toward surrogacy, and three different clinical scenarios to assess patterns of thinking. Finally, we validated a scale to assess the acceptance of surrogacy in these two populations.

Results: Concerning medical students, 54.8% reported they were supportive of surrogacy, 35.1% were neutral and 10.1% were against. For lawyers, 52.9% were supportive, 25% were neutral and 22.1% were against. Lawyers were more likely to be against surrogacy (p = 0.001). After conducting a multivariate analysis on the whole studied population to find predictors of acceptance of surrogacy, the best predictors were being single (OR 0.415; 95% CI 0.228, 0.753; p < 0.01), a supportive reported attitude regarding surrogacy (OR 5.464; 95% CI 3.65, 8.13; p < 0.001) and believing that surrogacy is a solution worth discussing in Lebanon (OR 4.186; 95% CI 1.709, 10.256; p < 0.01). Concerning the clinical scenarios, they showed that lawyers were more likely to oppose abortion regardless of the reason (p < 0.01). Also, in a case of gestational surrogacy, lawyers were more likely to give the right to the gestational carrier to keep the baby compared to medical students (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study shows that only a minority of medical students and lawyers in Lebanon oppose surrogate pregnancy which warrants exploration of the perspective of other populations of decision makers in Lebanon to better guide legislations.

Keywords: Ethics; Law; Lawyers; Medical Students; Pregnancy; Surrogacy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

References

    1. Vander Borght M, Wyns C. Fertility and infertility: definition and epidemiology. Clin Biochem. 2018;62:2–10. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.03.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yusuf L. Depression, anxiety and stress among female patients of infertility: a case control study. Pak J Med Sci. 2016;32(6):1340–1343. doi: 10.12669/pjms.326.10828. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ciccarelli JC, Beckman LJ. Navigating rough waters: an overview of psychological aspects of surrogacy. J Soc Issues. 2005;61(1):21–43. doi: 10.1111/j.0022-4537.2005.00392.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Drabiak K, Wegner C, Fredland V, Helft PR. Ethics, law, and commercial surrogacy: a call for uniformity. J Law Med Ethics. 2007;35(2):300–309. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00139.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Londra L, Wallach E, Zhao Y. Assisted reproduction: ethical and legal issues. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2014;19(5):264–271. doi: 10.1016/j.siny.2014.07.003. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources