Surrogacy may be appropriate if you have a medical condition that makes it impossible or dangerous to get pregnant and to give birth.

Emobileclinic Trending topic: Surrogacy

The challenges facing couples without their child are so alarming . Although, assisted reproductive technologies have to some extent alleviate the plight of these couples, some women still have difficulty having babies because of several factors like recurrent pregnancy loss among others, these situations necessitate the need for a surrogate to help carry the fertilized embryo arising from ART treatment.

Put simply, surrogacy is an act whereby another woman carries and gives birth to a baby for the couple who want to have a child.

Surrogacy may be appropriate if you have a medical condition that makes it impossible or dangerous to get pregnant and to give birth.

The type of medical conditions that might make surrogacy necessary for you include:

Absence or malformation of the womb

Recurrent pregnancy loss

Repeated in vitro fertilisation (IVF) implantation failures.

Types of Surrogacy

Full surrogacy also referred to as gestational surrogacy involves the removal of egg from the intended mother or an anonymous donor and fertilized with the sperm of the intended father or anonymous donor. The fertilized egg, or embryo, is then transferred to a surrogate who carries the baby to term. The child is thereby genetically related to the woman who donated the egg and the intended father or sperm donor, but not the surrogate. Some lesbian couples find gestational surrogacy attractive because it permits one woman to contribute her egg and the other to carry the child.

On the other hand, partial surrogacy also known as traditional surrogacy involves sperm from the intended father and an egg from the surrogate. Here fertilisation is (usually) done by artificial insemination or intrauterine insemination (IUI).

In this type, a surrogate mother is artificially inseminated, either by the intended father or an anonymous donor, and carries the baby to term. The child is thereby genetically related to both the surrogate mother, who provides the egg, and the intended father or anonymous donor.

Chances of having babies 

The success of having babies from surrogacy depends on a number of factors such as the age of the surrogate, her fertility potency, the success of the ART procedures to mention just few. 

Risks of surrogacy

The risk of transferring HIV and hepatitis, which is mitigated by screening of everyone involved in surrogacy when IUI is recommended, and required in surrogacy arrangements involving IVF.

Traditional surrogacy is more controversial than gestational surrogacy, in large part because the biological relationship between the surrogate and the child often complicates the facts of the case if parental rights or the validity of the surrogacy agreement are challenged. As a result, most states prohibit traditional surrogacy agreements. Additionally, many states that permit surrogacy agreements prohibit compensation beyond the payment of medical and legal expenses incurred as a result of the surrogacy agreement.

Who can be a Surrogate?

Family member 

Friend 

Unknown Professional surrogate

It must be emphasized that surrogates are the legal mother of any child they carry – even if they are notgenetically related, until they sign a parental or adoption order following the birth of the child , this transfers their rights to the intended parents.

It is also advisable to receive counselling before starting the surrogacy process, to help you think about all the questions involved.