Abstract:

Infertility and childlessness among married couples is rife in Igboland, which is the South East of Nigeria. Child adoption and surrogacy are becoming popular options for solving the problem in recent times. These means yield quick positive result when they are sought through the baby factory which however has not been spoken well of, due to some criminal activities that sometimes take place there. Consequently, many infertile couples who would have speedily realized their goals in marriage through these means are denied the opportunity. The paper tried to closely assess the act of engaging in child adoption and surrogacy through the baby factory to determine if there is any utilitarian value derivable from the baby factory and how it could be harnessed legitimately. It was observed that these means have helped the triad involved in these procedures. Adoptive parents who got babies through the baby factories may not have been helped if these teenagers did not give birth to children that could be adopted. Genetic surrogacy fits into Igbo world view that emphasizes consanguinity and can best be realized through the baby factory structure. Due to negative publicity, actions of some greedy criminal operators, dearth of proper legislative frame work, proper monitoring and particularly, absence of government involvement in implementation to ensure uniformity in practice, baby factory activities have been hunted by law enforcement agents. The paper recommended that government should be involved in operating the baby factory through a customized form of baby hatch as found in other western countries. The agency should be spread across the whole country to ensure availability of these services nationwide and also act as a regulatory body to private reproductive health care givers.