Everything you should know about surrogacy types

Nowadays medicine doesn’t stand still and continue its developing with overwhelming speed. Something that ten years ago seemed absolutely impossible has become real today. Surrogacy motherhood is an excellent example of such medical technologies developing. Nowadays couples who have fertilization problems have a perfect chance to create a family with their genetically native baby. It is all thanks to surrogacy motherhood which has become popular nowadays because of the increasing number of couples who have fertilization problems and its excellent results.

Let’s start with the terminology to explain you this procedure. So, the word surrogacy means a process of using the uterus of a genetically non-native woman (surrogate) for carrying an embryo and delivering a baby to its native parents. The fertilized egg is placed into the uterus of a surrogate and because of this, the process is called in vitro fertilization.

Nowadays there are two main types of surrogacy which work in different ways. These types are called traditional and gestational surrogacy. In this article, we are going to consider each of these types separately and pay your attention to the most important moments for each of them.

Method #1: Traditional Surrogacy.

This method of surrogacy is often used in case if the egg of a biological mother of a child or the sperm of a biological father for certain reasons can’t be used for childbirth. In case of traditional surrogacy, the fertilized egg of a surrogate is used. The sperm in such case is taken from a biological father of a child and through the procedure of IUI is transferred into the uterus of a surrogate. IUI process means intrauterine insemination and is performed by a doctor who transfers sperm into the uterus of a surrogate, thereby allowing fertilization occurs in a natural way. In case of traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is also a biological mother of a child being the egg donor.

In many countries, traditional surrogacy is completely prohibited by the law because the surrogate mother isn’t allowed to be the egg donor for a child.

Thus, surrogate motherhood can be defined as an agreement between a married couple and a woman who should conceive and bear the child. The process can be completely described as the outsourcing of a birth. In all cases, a surrogate mother receives monetary compensation, this type is referred to the commercial surrogate or altruistic surrogate motherhood. The main difference between traditional and gestational types of surrogate motherhood is that in case of traditional surrogacy a surrogate mother has a genetic connection with the child, while in case of gestational surrogacy type there is no such connection. In both cases of the traditional and gestational surrogate motherhood, it is extremely important to conclude a contract with the surrogate mother so that all the details and responsibilities of each party were reflected in it.

Method #2: Gestational Surrogacy.

So, as we have already mentioned at the beginning of our article, the two types of the surrogacy are absolutely different and if in the case of the traditional surrogacy, a surrogate acts also as the egg donor, in case of gestational surrogacy the surrogate’s eggs are not used. Thus, there is no biological connection of the child with the surrogate mother. In case of the gestational surrogacy, egg of the biological mother is fertilized by using the sperm of a biological father and embryo is created through the process which is called in vitro fertilization.

After the fertilization of the genetically native mother’s egg, the embryo is transferred to the uterus of a surrogate. As a rule, after the egg fertilization, prior to the transferring to the uterus of a surrogate, it may take for the embryo from three to five days to develop in the laboratory, At the expiration of this period, in case of a successful transportation of an embryo to the uterus of a surrogate, the embryo will be carried by the surrogate mother till its birth during the whole pregnancy period.

Speaking about the rate of a final success it should be mentioned that this success directly depends on the health condition of the surrogate as well as on the age and health condition of a genetically native mother who provides the eggs. The interesting fact is that the specialists claim that the general rate of a final success is higher in case if eggs were taken from the woman who is infertile in comparison with the eggs taken from the fertile woman. As a rule, the gestational surrogacy costs much higher than traditional because of the necessity to perform such difficult medical procedure as the in vitro fertilization. Also, in comparison with the traditional surrogacy, this type is not so strictly prohibited by the law and is more widespread.

What you should also know about surrogacy

First of all, you should understand that both the traditional and gestational surrogacy types despite their differences are as safe as the normal biological pregnancy. When you choose a surrogate, she has to be screened to evaluate the health condition and make sure there are no health problems. In case, if the surrogate has some diseases or her health condition doesn’t fit the requirements of genetically native parents, another surrogate mother is chosen. In case, if the surrogate mother’s health is good enough and you chose the gestational type of surrogacy, she should go through the course of the medications assisting her in developing the eggs that are used in the process of in vitro fertilization. At the moment when the baby is ready to see the world, the surrogate goes through the typical process of parturition after which the newborn will be taken by its genetically native parents.

Modern medicine is at the high level and with the help of prenatal diagnosis methods, it has become possible to determine the possible pathology of a child in time without harming the surrogate mother. Actually, children who are born with the help of surrogate motherhood don’t differ from those who were born in a natural way. Moreover, because the health of a surrogate mother is always monitored carefully, children of the first type are more likely to be born healthy.

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