A brief overview on the surrogacy process

There are two types of surrogacy process; gestational and traditional. A traditional surrogate is a lady who donates her own egg to carry pregnancy. The baby born through this process is genetically relevant to the intended father and the proxy mother. The surrogate mother egg is fertilized with the intended father sperm through artificial insemination (AI) process. In gestational surrogacy, a surrogate mother carries pregnancy through IVF. It is the common method of ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology). ART is a group of fertility treatments that involves both sperm and egg.

Normally, a sperm fertilizes the egg inside the female body, but in this treatment, doctors take out the quality sperms and eggs from male and female body respectively. The egg is fertilized with the best swimmers in the laboratory and the physicians monitor the formation of nucleus. Once they see two nuclei, and confirm the formation of zygote, physicians culture the embryo for about four to six days and then transfer the cultured zygote to the uterus of the surrogate mother.

The baby born through In-Vitro fertilization process is genetically not related to the surrogate mother, but is genetically connected to the intended parents (if their sperm and eggs are used). While entering into the surrogacy process, a contract is made between the intended parents and the surrogate mother that briefly outlines compensation paid to the proxy, agency fee, medical fee, rights and responsibilities of both intended parents and proxy mother. Both parties need to follow the terms and conditions of the agreement to establish a good relationship and to get fruits for their effort.