What do Sarah Jessica Parker, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Kim Kardashian have in general? All are famous and they have used gestational surrogates to expand their families.
These celebrities are aware of various ways to have children these days. As technology is growing, so do the options. More and more people are turning towards surrogacy.
Surrogacy is a process of supported reproduction where intended parents function with a gestational surrogate who will hold and care for their baby(ies) until birth. Intended parents use surrogacy to set up or grow their families when they can't do so on their own.
Gestational surrogacy has become more general than a traditional surrogate. About 750 babies are born every year through gestational surrogacy.
Once the surrogate is pregnant, the achievement rate for a healthy birth is as high as 95%.
Types of surrogacy
The term “surrogacy” is usually used to explain a couple of diverse scenarios.
- A gestational carrier goes through pregnancy for an individual or couple using an egg that is not the carrier. The egg may arise from either the intended mother or a donor. Similarly, sperm may come from the intended father or a donor. Pregnancy is attained through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
- A traditional surrogate both donates her egg and goes through pregnancy for an individual or couple. The pregnancy is generally achieved through intrauterine insemination (IUI) from the intended father with sperm. Donor sperm may also be utilized.
According to the Southern Surrogacy agency, gestational carriers are now more widespread than traditional surrogates. Why this? Since a traditional surrogate donates her egg, she is precisely also the biological mother of the child.
While this can work out just fine, it can generate intricate legal and emotional issues. Several states essentially have laws against traditional surrogacy for these reasons.
How does surrogacy work?
Gestational surrogacy assists those who are not capable to have children become parents. It’s a method that needs medical and legal expertise, as well as a strong support procedure throughout the journey.
Through IVF, embryos are generated in a lab at a fertility clinic. Sometimes the intended parents use their genetic stuff. Sometimes, an egg donor is needed. At the fertility clinic, 1-2 embryos are implanted into a gestational carrier, who holds the baby(ies) to term.
Gestational carriers have no genetic relationship to the children they carry.
Why choose surrogacy to grow your family?
- Surrogacy permits couples and individuals from a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations to put together their families.
- Intended parents who use surrogacy comprise:
- Heterosexual couples who have diagnosed with infertility
- Intended mothers who are incapable to carry a child
- Intended parents who have a genetic defect or health state they don't want to pass onto the child
- Identical sex intended parents who want to have a genetic link to their baby
- Every surrogacy journey is exclusive.
How to find a surrogate?
Some people search for a friend or family member who’s willing to contribute as a surrogate. Others turn towards surrogacy agencies — in the United States or abroad — to find a first-rate match. Agencies first screen candidates to make sure they meet the criteria linked with the procedure. Then they cross-match your own wants/needs to find the top situation for your family.
Don’t know where to begin? The nonprofit group Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS) was made to review and preserve ethical issues of egg donation and surrogacy.
Criteria for becoming a surrogate
The qualifications for being a gestational surrogate differ by agency, but they engross things like:
- Age. Candidates should be between ages 21 and 45 years old. Again, the particular range differs by location.
- Reproductive background. They also have to have carried at least one pregnancy — without intrications — to term but have fewer than five vaginal deliveries and two cesarean sections.
- Lifestyle. Surrogates must live in a caring home environment, as verified by a home study. Drug and alcohol abuse are other concerns.
- Tests. Furthermore, potential surrogates must have a mental health screening, a whole physical — comprising screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Intended parents have firm requirements to meet as well. These entail:
- offering complete health histories
- having physical exams to make sure they can successfully go through in vitro fertilization retrieval cycles
- screening for infectious disease
- testing for some genetic diseases that could be passed to a child
Who Uses Surrogates?
If you're a woman, you may reflect on a surrogate for various reasons:
- Medical issues with your uterus
- You had a hysterectomy that had removed your uterus
- Circumstances that make pregnancy impossible or risky for you, like brutal heart disease
You may want to consider surrogacy if you tried but couldn't get pregnant with a diversity of assisted-reproduction techniques, such as IVF.
Surrogates have also made parenthood a choice for people who might not be able to adopt a child, possibly because of their age or marital status.
If gay men choose to use a traditional surrogate, one of them utilizes their sperm to fertilize the surrogate's egg via artificial insemination. The surrogate then bears the baby and gives birth.
A gay couple may also choose on an egg donor, fertilize that donated egg, and then have the embryo entrenched in a gestational surrogate to hold awaiting birth.
Surrogacy Process
While it's comparatively simple to comprehend 'What is Surrogacy?", understanding the process is a bit more complicated.
The surrogacy process can be composite, and working with an experienced agency helps steer the milestones and offers support when you need it most.
A general summary of the surrogacy process looks like this:
- Apply being a surrogate or a parent
- Meet all requirements (surrogates) and entire initial consultation (parents)
- Parent and Surrogate Matching
- Screenings of medical, surrogate medications, and embryo transfer
- Verification of pregnancy
- Delivery day and afar
Pros of Surrogacy:
- Surrogacy completes families. For those who have resisted infertility, LGBT couples, and those with medical situations that make pregnancy dangerous, surrogacy is frequently the answer to years of ineffective attempts to create a family.
- Surrogacy enables genetic connections. Gestational surrogacy frequently enables one or both parents to protect a biological relationship with their child.
- Surrogacy creates relationships. Many proposed parents become close with their surrogate and her family during the process, developing important bonds that can last a lifetime.
- Surrogacy includes few surprises. A lawfully binding contract outlining everyone’s expectations will be discussed and signed preceding the embryo transfer, so everyone will identify exactly what to expect during the surrogacy process.
Cons of surrogacy:
- Surrogacy can be complex. Gestational surrogacy includes compound medical procedures and surrogacy laws. Legal procedures can be devastating at times. It is significant to work closely with a trusted qualified like Southern Surrogacy to make sure the process is completed securely and lawfully.
- Surrogacy costs can be important. Because of the number of people and services needed to fulfill a successful surrogacy, surrogacy can be costly.
Mental health counseling is also suggested to cover things like expectations from surrogacy, addiction, abuse, and other psychological problems.
Consider all the above criteria while going for surrogate pregnancy.