Surrogacy

Surrogacy is a procedure in which a woman accepts to carry out a pregnancy to term for a couple or for another woman, either altruistically or for financial gains. She pledges to abandon the child at birth, which is adopted by the woman who will become the legal mother. This agreement is supported by legal agreement.

Gestational surrogacy takes place when an embryo created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology is implanted in a surrogate. Gestational surrogacy has several forms, and in each form, the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate:

The embryos can be created by either of the following ways-

• Using the intended father’s sperm and the intended mother’s eggs

• Using the intended father’s sperm and a donor egg

• Using the intended mother’s egg and donor sperm

Intended parents who use surrogacy include:

1) Women who are unable to carry children on their own. This can be due to many reasons like having an abnormal uterus or a complete absence of a uterus either congenitally (also known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome) or post-hysterectomy.

2) Past repeated implantation failures

3) History of multiple miscarriages

4) Chronic cases of thin endometrium where the endometrium does not develop inspite of all

efforts

5) Concurrent severe heart or renal conditions or any other medical problem that can make

pregnancy harmful

6) Single men and same-sex couples who want a baby may also opt for surrogacy.