What is Surrogacy?
The definition is fairly simple when a couple wants a baby but is unable to have a child because either or both partners are medically unfit to conceive, another woman is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the father. She then carries the child full term and delivers it for the couple. In such a case, the surrogate mother is the biological mother of the child. In instances when the father’s sperm cannot be used, donor sperm can also be used. This is traditional surrogacy. There is also gestational surrogacy, wherein eggs from the mother are fertilized with the father’s/donor’s sperm and then the embryo is placed into the uterus of the surrogate, who carries the child to term and delivers it. In this case, the biological mother is still the woman whose eggs are used, while the surrogate is called the birth mother.
What should be kept in mind while selecting a Surrogate?
Couples opt for surrogacy when traditional means of conceiving a child have failed, this also includes in-vitro fertilization, or it is dangerous for the couple to get pregnant and give birth. The following medical conditions usually necessitate surrogacy: It is important to make sure the surrogate mother is healthy and ideally between 21 and 40 years old.
- Other than general fitness levels such as blood pressure, sugar levels, thyroid, etc., one should check for the mental health of the surrogate.
- It is also advisable that the surrogate should have already given birth to one healthy baby before.
Assisted reproduction techniques
The donation of oocytes is the gift, anonymous and voluntary, female reproductive cells of a couple to another. For this, the oocytes of the woman of the donor couple are removed from the ovaries after ovulation stimulation treatment (steps identical to those of In Vitro Fertilization). The oocytes are then fertilized in vitro by the frozen spermatozoa of the husband of the recipient couple. The embryos thus obtained are frozen for at least 6 months (to verify again the serologies of the donor) and then transferred into the uterus of the woman of the recipient couple. Who is the Egg Donation for? Couples whose wife no longer produces oocytes or who is at risk of transmitting a serious genetic disease. These women must be no more than 39 years old, have no live child, and have a uterus that can be pregnant. Who can give oocytes? Women living as a couple, under 38 and at least one child living with the current spouse and with no risk factor.
What assessment for Egg Donation?
A clinical and biological assessment to ensure the proper functioning of the ovary, the absence of transmissible pathology (infectious or genetic) is achieved before acceptance of the donation. What does surrogacy mean? Surrogate motherhood is when a woman is pregnant and later is going to give birth, although the baby belongs both genetically and legally to other parents. Equally, the surrogacy term does not sound familiar, but it sure sounds like “surrogate mothers”, rent belly, etc. to refer to this technique of assisted reproduction.