Surrogacy - right or wrong ?

It always amazes me how people can have such strong opinions about some areas, without their having thought through the issues clearly. Surrogacy raises a lot of emotional issues, because it hits lots of "hot buttons", as a result of which a debate on surrogacy often sheds more heat and less light. I was watching a program on NDTV about surrogacy, and I heard this upper middle class woman pompously opine that surrogacy should be outlawed, because it allows commercial exploitation of poor women; and is a form of "reproductive prostitution" because no sane woman would ever "hire out" her uterus to another woman. I was shocked ! This woman was a self-righteous do-gooder , who felt that she was protecting her "poor sisters" by asking for a ban on surrogacy. However, by not allowing them to offer surrogacy services, wasn't she actually encroaching on their autonomy ? She didn't even respect them enough to allow them the freedom to choose for themselves - because she felt poor and stupid are synonymous; and that poor women are stupid women who are easy to exploit, because they cannot think for themselves, which is why they need protection which their richer ( and smarter) sisters could offer them. I feel it's much better to respect every woman's intelligence, and allow her the freedom to choose for herself. Suppose a poor woman with 2 children does decide to act as a surrogate for an infertile couple, so she can earn some money which will allow her to provide better food and education for her existing children, then what's wrong with this ? Why take away her freedom to do so under the garb of "protecting her rights" ? Unfortunately, exploitation is a fact of life, as Karl Marx so eloquently pointed out. As long as it's between mutually consenting adults, I feel the rest of us should mind our own business, and allow individuals the freedom to choose for themselves !