Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics

This paper examines surrogate motherhood and its acceptability in Yoruba African society. We discovered that South Africa had already accepted it and there is a law to that effect in their child care act. Though some other countries in Africa also have a child care act, little is said about reproductive technology. This paper examines the acceptability of this technique among the Yoruba in Nigeria. The practice of bearing a child on behalf of another woman is not a new issue, but is not common in many countries in Africa. It raises many ethical issues in the African society especially among the Yorùbá society. The issues raised are moral in nature but should be left to individual decision, because for the Yoruba, when it comes to the issue of autonomy and competence as regards deciding on individual fate, they would metaphorically claim that ‘bose wuni lase imole eni’ (one determines one’s faith the way one deems fit).