Onbi-Onwo Controversy: A Case for Surrogacy

Can a woman who has not experienced the inconveniences of pregnancy or go through the rigours of childbirth be identified as a mother? Can a woman be the mother of a child with whom she has no blood connection? These questions relate to what is considered the Ònbí-Oǹwò controversy in abánibímọ (surrogacy), among the Yoruba of Nigeria. These questions facilitate a revisit to the philosophical, cultural and scientific nature-nurture debate, but this study departs from the debate in that it is interested in making a case for the African woman, and more specifically, the Yoruba woman, who is perceived as agan (ridiculed/barren) because of her inability to conceive and procreate naturally; to engage alternate reproductive channels in having a child. Since, from the nature-nurture argument, we decipher that what makes up a socially functioning person is more than the germinal constituent. The philosophical tools of conceptual and critical analysis and reconstruction are used.  

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.