Wednesday 5 June 2013

Some Facts about Gestational Surrogacy


Giving birth is a life changing experience that can make a woman complete. However, there are instances when a woman is not able to conceive due to stress or a serious medical condition. However, despite the odds, she may still want to bear a child and make her family complete. This is where surrogacy in general and gestational surrogacy in particular comes in.

In surrogacy, a woman not able to conceive or a same sex couple can ask another woman to implant and carry the embryo and deliver the baby for them. It is done using in vitro fertilization or with intrauterine insemination. The woman carrying the pregnancy and brining it to term is called a surrogate mother or a gestational carrier.

In traditional surrogacy, a surrogate mother would be carrying the child conceived from the sperm of the male partner and donor eggs, which could also be her own.  This procedure is used when the female partner has unhealthy eggs. Gay couples can also use this procedure to become parents, where one of the partners would be the biological father. 


In gestational surrogacy, the eggs from the female and the sperm from the male is used to form an embryo that is then transferred to the uterus of a surrogate through in vitro fertilization. The surrogate is not biologically related to the child here.

This is often the answer for a woman who has had her uterus removed but still has healthy ovaries. She can provide the eggs but cannot carry the baby, and this is why she needs a surrogate mother for her child.

The services of a surrogate can also be used when a young woman has a medical condition and cannot mother a baby naturally.  Couples who have experienced failure with IVF can opt for gestational surrogacy and realize their dream of becoming parents.

Sometimes, the doctors may advice using IVF with donor eggs and the uterus of the infertile woman over using the service of a surrogate and the infertile woman’s eggs.

For gestational surrogacy, a couple would have to find a surrogate who is healthy and who they approve of. This they can do through fertility clinics or private agencies. There are also a lot of legal formalities to take care of here before the actual procedure begins to protect the rights of the intended parents, the child, and also the surrogate carrier. The expenses related to the pregnancy are usually paid by the intended parents.

These arrangements are often always complex involving a host of medical, financial, emotional, and legal issues. However, they also offer hopes to thousands of gay couples and others who want to create their own families and make their existences complete.

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