Surrogacy is a path that many couples who are unable to have children of their own have chosen due to the intimacy and experiences involved in the process. There are many things that should be taken into consideration before you make the choice of becoming a surrogate mother. You should first speak with an attorney and/or an adoption agency specializing in surrogacy. They can provide you with a list of things to consider and agencies available to start you on your way, educate you on your rights as well as those of the adoptive couple and what you can expect and what is expected out of you.
When you consider on becoming a surrogate mother, you also need to decide whether you will be an independent surrogate or agency surrogate. As an independent surrogate, you need to be responsible for your own arrangements, finding the right couple, working out a contract and, if anything goes awry with the arrangements, you will be responsible for finding another couple. As an agency surrogate, all of these arrangements and legalities are managed for you by your agent. Either route you choose, make sure that you have consulted an attorney who specializes in surrogacy and adoption to serve your best interests.
The next step in becoming a surrogate involves the physical aspects or extent of the measures you are willing to take to become pregnant. You need to decide if you are willing to undergo artificial insemination, hormone therapy and/or in vitro fertilization. Each of these measures are time consuming and not fail proof, so it is always best to have an alternate plan, if possible, in case your first choice for conception does not work.
Finally, once an agency or attorney is employed in your journey to becoming a surrogate mother, psychological and physical tests need to be done to make sure that you are healthy enough to carry a child to term and that there are not any past medical or family histories that may cause pregnancy or genetic issues. Extensive counseling will be
Surrogacy itself calls up a lot of moral and ethical concerns, mostly because of the money that is involved. Also the fact that a childless couple are asking, sometimes, a complete stranger to become pregnant for them and then give them the child after the birth. Depending on the infertility problems of the intended couple, the surrogate mother will become pregnant in some very different ways.
Firstly there is the traditional method, which is where the intended fathers sperm is used to artificially inseminate the surrogate mother. This is using the surrogate mothers egg, so she will be the legal and the biological mother which may cause some people problems, ethically and morally. Then we have where both of the intended parents are infertile, so a sperm donor is used to make the surrogate mother pregnant, and thirdly we have the gestational surrogate method. This is where the intended mothers egg is fertilized with the intended fathers sperm in a laboratory and then it is placed into the surrogate mother to grow until ready for birth. This method is used because the intended mother either can not carry a baby full term, has had a part hysterectomy, or has other medical reasons that prevent her from becoming pregnant.
In the majority of these cases, the surrogate mother will be giving this service due to altruistic reasoning. She will still receive reimbursement for her and her family for any out of pocket expenses she may incur in the 9 months while she is carrying the child'. This amount of money is called the base fee. This is an amount of money that is usually split up into 9 monthly payments. The amounts are never equal in their amounts because of the fact that a miscarriage is more likely in the first three months than at any other time during the pregnancy. So, understandably, the first couple of payments will be less than offered later in the pregnancy so that the intended parents will not have to pay too much for a failed pregnancy but the surrogate mother
Surrogate motherhood is an option for couples who are unable to have children, whether it be from age, infertility, or some other medical issue. It is also for women who can have children but choose not to have the pregnancy experience. The other option for women to have children is via adoption.
Surrogacy can be accomplished by one, of two ways. In most cases, a man's sperm is instilled into the surrogate by a procedure called artificial insemination. If this is done, the surrogate is considered to be the biological and birth mother of the child. Another name for this type of surrogacy is traditional surrogacy. The other way surrogacy may be accomplished is by the man's sperm and woman's eggs being implanted into the surrogate. This process is known as vitro fertilization. In this case, the surrogate is not the biological mother but is still considered the birth mother of the child. This type of surrogacy is gestational surrogacy.
Surrogacy has both supporters and opponents, and both parties have strong arguments that work in their favor. All that are against surrogacy feel it is unnecessary and it dismembers a woman's body, especially considering that surrogacy is a profitable transaction. Many build their belief against surrogacy on their religious beliefs, while others base it on political and legal beliefs.
Roman Catholics are strongly against surrogacy and feel surrogacy takes away from the sacredness of marriage and the connection between father, mother, and child. They also feel that commercial surrogacy is greatly offensive. In commercial surrogacy, a child's birth is turned into a financial matter. They feel it turns women into reproductive robots and exploitation of children.
Other groups that oppose to surrogacy are feminists. Many feminists will argue that surrogate women are pressured or forced into being surrogates when they really do not want to be. Feminists have even gone so far as to call surrogacy a reproductive prostitution.
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Surrogate pregnancy is a process in which another woman will carry a baby for nine months and then will relinquish the baby to the couple. This is meant for women or couples that are unable to have children for whatever reason, be it infertility, age, or medical problems. Another option is adoption, which is a legal process to create a new, permanent relationship between a child and an adult.
A woman that decides to be a surrogate may be family, friends, or may be a complete stranger. Surrogate pregnancy can be arranged through agencies that help find the couple a woman who will be their surrogate mother for a fee. If the agency arranges for surrogacy, careful inspection is done to make sure the health of the surrogate is guaranteed to avoid possible pregnancy risks. Surrogacy may also be set up without the help of an agency.
Surrogate pregnancy can be done in one of two ways. The first way is by artificial insemination, in which a sperm is injected into the surrogate mother's body. The surrogate is the baby's biological mother, but after the birth of the child, he/she is given to be raised by the biological father and his partner or spouse. This is known as traditional surrogacy. The second way is to have a woman's eggs (usually about five eggs) and a man's sperm injected into the surrogate mother. In this case, the surrogate is not the biological mother. This is known as gestational surrogacy.
The fees paid for a surrogate pregnancy will be anywhere from ten-thousand to sixty-thousand dollars. The average price for a surrogate mother is anywhere from ten-thousand to thirty-thousand dollars, but other fees such as medical fees, egg donors (if one is used), lawyer fees, or fertility clinics can, of course, up the price. Gestational surrogacy tends to cost more than traditional surrogacy because more medical complications arise in pregnancy. Surrogate mothers that carry babies for members of their family may do it for expenses only, or may get no rewards