The bodily-personal relationship of the mother to the child, which begins already in the prenatal phase and includes a unique bodily closeness. Motherhood is not a merely biological process but a profoundly personal relationship that concerns the body and the soul of the mother in equal measure. In pregnancy the mother lives together with the child in a way that exists in no other human relationship: the child is part of her body and at the same time another person.
This unique standing of motherhood is grounded in the First Dimension of personhood — the bodily-spiritual unity. The body is not a mere instrument of the person but the expression and realization of its being. The bodily bond of mother and child is therefore not a purely physiological fact but a personal reality: in it the deepest form of human belonging becomes visible.
The ontology distinguishes three subforms: gestational motherhood (bodily pregnancy and birth), genetic motherhood (the passing on of genetic material), and social motherhood (the upbringing and accompaniment of the child). In the natural order these three forms coincide in one person.
Surrogacy, however, splits this unity apart. It separates gestational motherhood from genetic and social motherhood. In this way a fragmented parenthood arises, which withholds from the child an unambiguous personal assignment.
This splitting is problematic in personal-ontological terms because it instrumentalizes the bodily-personal unity of motherhood. The gestational mother is degraded into a service provider, her body into a site of production. Thereby not only the dignity of the gestational mother is violated, but also that of the child, who is born into a deliberately fragmented structure of relationships.
The Personalist Norm demands that the relationship of mother and child be protected as what it is: an irreducibly personal reality.
Ontological classification
- Superordinate concept: Parenthood
- has subclasses: Gestational Motherhood, Social Motherhood, Genetic Motherhood
- split apart by: surrogacy
Ontological relations:
- is a subclass of: Parenthood
- has subclass: Gestational Motherhood, Social Motherhood, Genetic Motherhood
Gestational Motherhood
Gestational motherhood denotes the bodily-personal relationship of the woman to the child that arises during pregnancy. It encompasses nine months of bodily closeness, hormonal connectedness, and prenatal communication. This relationship is not a mere biological function but a personal reality of the First Dimension of personhood.
In the natural order, gestational motherhood is united in one person with genetic and social motherhood. Its splitting through reproductive-medical procedures such as in vitro fertilization or surrogacy constitutes a form of fragmented parenthood.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: Motherhood
Genetic Motherhood
Genetic motherhood denotes the biological relationship of the woman to the child whose egg cell was used at fertilization. In the natural order it is identical with gestational and social motherhood: the same woman who gives the egg cell carries the child and raises it. Only through reproductive-medical procedures such as egg-cell donation or in vitro fertilization is this unity split apart. The separation of genetic from gestational and social motherhood constitutes a form of fragmented parenthood that contradicts the personal unity of the parent-child relationship.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: Motherhood
Social Motherhood
Social motherhood denotes the relationship of the woman to the child who assumes responsibility for its upbringing and development. In the natural order it is united in one person with genetic and gestational motherhood. Social motherhood encompasses the long-term accompaniment of the child in the actualization of all three dimensions of personhood. Its separation from genetic and gestational motherhood through reproductive-medical procedures constitutes a form of fragmented parenthood that can lead to identity conflicts in the child.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: Motherhood
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 165–175 (body and personal relation), pp. 246–258 (First Dimension).
Further sources:
- Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae, I, q. 92 (on the creation of woman and the complementarity of the sexes).
See also:
- Chapter 4: Personhood (German)
- Embryo
- parental role
- Ectogenesis — extracorporeal pregnancy
- Artificial Womb
- Dignity
- Body-Soul Unity
- Thomas Aquinas