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Surrogacy refers to an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother or not, depending on the type of arrangement agreed to.
Legal Issues
Such an arrangement requires legal intervention, as the laws regarding assisted reproduction differ from state to state and country to country. It is important that each party in such arrangements has a clear understanding of the risks involved with such arrangements.
Terminology
The term surrogacy has been challenged because it is highly value laden, that it literally means "substitute" which insinuates that the pregnant woman is expendable to the process of becoming a parent. A useful term is "contracted motherhood" which describes the arrangement without linguistically demeaning any of the parties involved.
The woman who agrees to bear the child is usually referred to as the “surrogate mother". "Gestational carrier" is more appropriate if she is not the genetic mother of the child, however, because this describes her intended role without demeaning her contribution. The people who will raise the child are referred to as the Commissioning/Intended Mother and Commissioning/Intended Father or Commissioning/Intended Parents.
Retribution
Contracted motherhood agreements can be divided into two categories: commercial and non-commercial, or “altruistic.” Commercial contracted motherhood arrangements are those in which the party seeking a child agree to pay a fee to the surrogate beyond the cost of her medical needs. In contrast non-commercial or “altruistic” contracted motherhood arrangements are those where the surrogate agrees to receive no payment or reward, although it is rare that a total non-commercial agreement is ever made as it is expected that the commissioning party will pay the pregnant woman’s medical bills. Altrustic agreements are often between parties who are fmaily or friends prior to the arrangement.
Who chooses surrogacy?
Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction.
In some cases it is the only available option for a couple who wish to have a child that is genetically related to at least one of them. People who choose surrogacy may be:
- single men or gay male couples
- heterosexual couples who are unable to have children due to a difficulty suffered by the female partner.
These problems may include absent or poorly functioning ovaries, an absent or malformed uterus, a maternal disease which precludes pregnancy but not motherhood, recurrent pregnancy loss, or repeated IVF implantation failures.
It has been suggested that one of the major motivations for turning to this method of reproduction is the difficulties associated with adoption in contemporary society. These include the fact that changes in social attitudes and legislation have led to fewer women placing their children up for adoption, and couples may wish to avoid being asked to adopt a child of a different race or having to go through the difficulties of international adoption.
The biological connection
There are two major types of surrogacy:
- Partial or genetic contracted motherhood (also known as traditional surrogacy), in which the gestational mother is impregnated with the sperm of the commissioning father (usually through artificial insemination). In these cases, the gestational mother is both the genetic and gestational mother of the child, however she relinquishes her role of social mother to the commissioning mother.
- Complete or gestational contracted motherhood (also known as gestational surrogacy). Using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), the Intended Parents produce an embryo that can then be transplanted into the surrogate mother for her to gestate and give birth to after nine months. In gestational contracted motherhood the preganant woman makes no genetic contribution to the child, however she is the child’s birth mother.
Emotional Issues
The emotions involved in surrogacy are very strong on both sides. Make sure you have appropriate support before choosing surrogacy. There are a lot of support organisations available for anyone choosing this option.
Research carried out by Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University, London, UK in 2002 showed surrogate mothers rarely had difficulty relinquishing rights to a surrogate child and that the commisioning mothers showed greater warmth to the child that mothers conceiving naturally.