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Introduction and Background In today’s society there is no shortage of controversial topics that have left society looking for the right answers. Ranging from abortion to the death penalty to affirmative action, these debatable subjects are usually at the forefront of people’s minds, which can be seen from the role these ideas played in the election this year. While not an issue that has garnered media attention in the past few years, the topic of surrogate motherhood is one that has still left society and the legal system divided over establishing the correct solution. Martha Field, in her work, Surrogate Motherhood, attempts to address that issue and formulate what she believes is the best resolution in conflicts between surrogate mothers and adoptive parents. While surrogacy may not be a hotly contested topic for today’s society, in the late 1980’s, it was a topic that was widely debated across America. One of the most famous situations in which a surrogate mother wanted to keep the baby was the Baby M case. In 1987, William and Elizabeth Stern contracted Mary Beth Whitehead to act as a surrogate mother. Mrs. Whitehead was given $10,000 and was expected to surrender her own parental rights with the birth of th