Arts & Culture
Kinship Systems and Their Adaptation to Modern Reproductive Technologies
Quick fact
In many countries, the woman who gives birth is legally the mother, even if the child was conceived with another woman's egg—but in others, the intending parents are recognized from the start. This legal chaos mirrors the deep flexibility of kinship systems.
Why this is interesting
When a child has three mothers—an egg donor, a gestational surrogate, and the woman who raises her—how does the law, and the family, decide who is 'Mom'?