The Giving Season

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We're a national network of over 100 fertility specialists. All our specialists can help with surrogacy options.

The end-of-year holidays can take an emotional toll on people who struggle to build their families. Family gatherings and shopping centers filled with children may emphasize a couple’s longing. There is, however, is a profoundly beautiful and unique gift that is waiting to be discovered – gestational surrogate carrier arrangements are an increasingly successful way to bring children to waiting families.

"Surrogate carrier" is the term used to describe a woman who carries a pregnancy from embryo transfer to birth on behalf of another person. No longer considered a rare or unusual way to resolve infertility, gestational surrogacy services are available at nearly 70 percent of the clinics reporting in the 2001 CDC database.

There are two basic types of surrogate carriers:

Gestational or IVF surrogates, in which the surrogate does not contribute genetically; In these cases, the embryo she carries is created by the egg and sperm of the intended parents or other donors.

Traditional or 'natural' surrogates who are inseminated artificially by the intended father or donor sperm. Such arrangements by definition mean that the resulting offspring will have a biological connection to the carrier.

Increasingly, supportive state laws are making the use of surrogate carriers a legally protected situation. Professional agencies that provide all educational, counseling, and legal assistance required for "third-party" relationships (those involving donor eggs or surrogate carriers) are growing not only in number and availability, but in experience.

Professional Guidance Recommended

The stigma toward intended parents and surrogates seems also to have abated. As assisted reproductive technology in general becomes more widely accepted, so does the public's acceptance and understanding about the reasons people have for engaging in a surrogate situation to build their families.

Because professional agencies are able to thoroughly educate, counsel, and screen all parties involved, appropriate matches can be made between surrogate and hopeful couples toward the best outcome. Couples are required to give very serious consideration to the fact that a surrogacy arrangement will mean a relatively long-term, intense relationship with a third person. The few surrogates who are accepted must meet a list of qualifications that includes psychological, physical, and financial criteria.

The optimal situation is for a surrogate to not be motivated by financial need. Professionals who work to match families with surrogates report that they look for a genuinely altruistic need on the part of the surrogate candidate. The best surrogate candidates are women who have already built their own families, who enjoy pregnancy, and who have a sincere desire to help other couples end their unresolved longing for a child.

Who Would Do It?

Gestational surrogacy is a good family-building option for patients with several conditions:

  • Missing uterus due to hysterectomy or congenital condition, so long as the woman's ovaries are still present and functioning
  • Medical problems like diabetes, heart, or kidney disease which can make pregnancy life-threatening

Because the laws regarding surrogacy arrangements vary from state to state, the first thing that an interested couple should do is talk to their reproductive specialist. Some clinics have in-house professionals who can assist parents-to-be from the educational stage through delivery. Others may provide the medical part of the process while coordinating with and referring to outside agencies for education, counseling, and matching services.

Using the gift of a surrogate carrier can be the perfect way for some families to grow.

See a fertility specialist now
We're a national network of over 100 fertility specialists. All our specialists can help with surrogacy options.