What is the process of Surrogacy ?

by Neha Nitu Ela Woman Neha

Surrogacy is a process of giving a boon to a woman to become a mother without even conceiving. It is actually the legal agreement between the intended couples and the woman who agrees to conceive for them. That woman is commonly referred as a surrogate or a surrogate mother. Surrogate mothers are responsible for conceiving the baby on the behalf of the intended mother.

The couples who are being disappointed in having a baby, they opt for surrogacy to complete their families. The medical conditions in which they are advised for surrogacy are malformation of or infection in the womb, absence or removal of womb by hysterectomy, recurring miscarriages, repeated failure of IVF and Other conditions that make impossibly or risky for a woman, such as severe heart disease etc. The single parents, homosexual couples and live-in relationship couples are usually prohibited for altruistic surrogacy.

The surrogacy is the first choice for the intended parents, although many still opt for other ways. The success rate for the whole IVF surrogacy procedure is much higher than other methods. It is usually more than 95% including the successive transfers. On the other hand, the success rates of self-donation procedures were drastically improving and keeping up the pace with rest of the methods like test-tube baby etc. which is directly in connection of surrogacy as it played a role in subsequent creation of this field altogether.

The surrogate mother plays a vital role in the whole process of surrogacy. The surrogate mother is required to carry the baby. For this, an egg and sperm is removed from the intended mother and father respectively. Then, the fertilized egg is transferred to a surrogate. Thus, the baby genetically belongs to the couple in need of a baby. This type of surrogacy is widely used nowadays and often referred as gestational surrogacy.

The other type of surrogacy includes artificial insemination of the surrogate mother by the intended father or any donor. Thus, the baby genetically belongs to the surrogate mother and the intended father. But due to the biological relationship between surrogate mother and the baby, this practice is not in much use and thus to avoid conflicts a surrogacy agreement is being followed so that parental rights are not challenged.

In other cases where couples are having medical complications, the egg or sperm donors are required. Gestational surrogacy is most popular among the lesbian couples who are willing to have a family.

The field of surrogacy has gone through major developments over a long period of time to reach the current success rates that we comprehend present-day. The credit of old beginnings of this field is given to U.S. In the 1936 U.S., pharmaceutical companies Schering -Kahlbaum and Parke-Davis started the production of estrogen. Later in 1944, the human ova were fertilized outside the uterus for the first time by the professor of Harvard Medical School, John Rock. After that researchers got interested in this arena and performed first cryopreservation of sperm in 1953. As the research went to next level the first test tube baby was in England in 1978. But the significant year was 1985, which marked the history when a woman successfully carried the gestational surrogate pregnancy for the first time.

The humble beginnings of surrogacy were later marked with legal issues and challenges faced by intended parents as the surrogates refused to give the custody of their babies in some cases and were properly resolved by declaring contracts for surrogate motherhood as illegal and invalid. Because of these conflicts, the need of creating and following proper parental rights and laws arised. So, to rectify the confusions and chaos thus created, laws and regulations were formed worldwide. While some countries banned surrogacy right away, some allowed only altruistic surrogacy rather than commercial surrogacy where the surrogate is being paid for their services. Nevertheless, considering the increasing requirement of surrogacy some countries has given permission to commercial surrogacy, which is responsible for development of full-service agencies and firms in recent days.

In bygone days, finding a surrogate was a very difficult task. Usually the intended parents looked for them in their families or friend circle. It helped them to greatly reduce the cost of surrogacy. But nowadays, there are agencies who are providing surrogates to the volunteering couples who are not in position of finding surrogate by themselves. The intended couples are being guided and recommended via IVF for fertility centers used for insemination.

It is crucial to know the complete history of the surrogate in order to eradicate any imposed dangers on the baby. For this, the surrogate is being examined in every possible way from family background to her health issues. She is being tested amongst a proper set criteria. She must be in good physical and mental condition. She should already have conceived one baby prior to the present. Her pregnancy records are checked for any previous complications she had. The woman's age is required to be less than 43 years but solely depends on the clinics operating in this field as they might sometimes accept older women. She is being tested for any prior smoke or alcoholic records as well.

During the process of surrogacy some ethical and religious issues may arise which needs the attention right away. But

Once all necessary verification's are done, the intended parents and surrogate signs a contract. Traditionally, the surrogates are being paid for their services to ensure their availability when the need arises. Also, the women playing a role of a surrogate is provided proper food and medical facilities from the time of conceiving till the time of delivery. But surrogate will only start to receive the payments after going through a successful fertilization and embryo transfer process. The intended mother or egg donor will be given proper medications to develop her eggs and then the eggs will be fetched for further operations. The eggs are then fertilized with the help of sperms retrieved from the intended father or sperm donor in the laboratory to create an sembryo, which is later, transferred to the surrogate mother. The surrogate will withstand the necessary fertility treatments post the transfer of embryo and during the pregnancy as well. Once the healthy pregnancy is confirmed, the surrogate starts receiving payments and medical care by the intended parents.

For confirming pregnancy, the prescribed surrogate is determined to undergo frequent fertility checkups like blood tests and ultrasounds to keep an eye on the progress of pregnancy. When the heartbeat of the baby is heard (usually after 6 weeks of embryo transfer), the pregnancy is being confirmed.

It is vital that the intended parents continually support the surrogate emotionally to as she encounters physical as well as emotional changes to assure their child's mental health. After a long-held process of surrogacy the baby is given birth. The intended parents cherish this moment with the surrogate mother. Most of the times the intended parents are present during the delivery time of the baby. After the successful birth of the baby, the surrogate is discharged from the hospital and is compensated for her services. The surrogacy centre in India maintains the discipline throughout the whole process of surrogacy and the intended parents are free to leave the premises after paying for their services.