title: Baby factories taint surrogacy in Nigeria.
abstract: The practice of reproductive medicine in Nigeria is facing new challenges with the proliferation of 'baby factories'. Baby factories are buildings, hospitals or orphanages that have been converted into places for young girls and women to give birth to children for sale on the black market, often to infertile couples, or into trafficking rings. This practice illegally provides outcomes (children) similar to surrogacy. While surrogacy has not been well accepted in this environment, the proliferation of baby factories further threatens its acceptance. The involvement of medical and allied health workers in the operation of baby factories raises ethical concerns. The lack of a properly defined legal framework and code of practice for surrogacy makes it difficult to prosecute baby factory owners, especially when they are health workers claiming to be providing services to clients. In this environment, surrogacy and other assisted reproductive techniques urgently require regulation in order to define when ethico-legal lines have been crossed in providing surrogacy or surrogacy-like services.
authors.affiliation: Viable Knowledge Masters, Abuja, Nigeria. Electronic address: sesmak@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Olusesan Ayodeji
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Makinde
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Olufunmbi Olukemi
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Makinde
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lagoon Hospitals Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Olalekan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Olaleye
authors.affiliation: Center for Healthy Communities, Division of Clinical Sciences, UCR School of Medicine, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
authors.forename: Clifford O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Odimegwu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D064410:Human Trafficking / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007246:Infertility / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013533:Gestational Carriers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: assisted reproductive techniques; baby factory; ethics; infertility; regulation; surrogacy