"Labor of Love is a thorough, thoughtful, well-researched analysis of women's labor in the commercial gestational surrogacy market in the United States." how do i find out if a book is in the public domain Labor of Love: Gestational Surrogacy and the Work of Making Babies (Families in Focus)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. An important contribution to the study of surrogacy, and the social-political discourse about the practice.By Ron DayanThis is an invaluable contribution to the study of surrogacy parenting, and the ethical and political discourse around the practice. Heather Jacobson's perspective is original and provocative. Surrogates are carefully screened and instructed about how important is their proactive role ("job") in the process, yet many of us who are involved in this field are often diligent in stressing that they are not employees. But in the process of "protecting" the practice from social criticism, do many of us in the "surrogacy community" actually minimized the amount of "work" these women have to put into the process? How emotionally involved they are, and how invested they feel in the success of these journeys? Heather Jacobson's ethnographic research documents the process, something that psychological studies and ethical papers do not set out to do. The study is comprehensive, the observations insightful, and the conclusions thought-provoking. I highly recommend getting this to anyone who is interested in more "mindful surrogacy". It should be interesting for current or future surrogate, members of families that benefited from surrogacy, and anyone else who is interested in these areas professionally or politically. The book is very well written and accessible to all readers, not just in academia.