Who is a surrogate mother?

Who is a surrogate mother?

A surrogate is a woman who carries biological baby of commissioning couples on agreement and relinquishes the baby immediately after birth. A substitute becomes pregnant through different forms ART therapy, normally IVF. The proxy mother carries baby for the term of nine months and the baby is released from the hospital to its commissioning couples. A surrogatemother becomes pregnant through various types. However, the most recognized technique is artificial insemination and IVF.  If the commissioning couples use artificial insemination process to impregnate surrogate mother, then they are adopting traditional surrogacy process which is considered illegal by many state laws. The baby born through traditional surrogacy process is biologically connected to the surrogate mother and commissioning father, which is considered unethical and illegal. Therefore, most of the state laws ban this type of surrogacy.

As traditional proxy process is considered illegal and unethical, most of the intended parents, doctors and surrogate agencies prefer gestational proxy process where the substitute is impregnated through IVF therapy. In-Vitro Fertilization technique is one of the most popular methods of ART where an embryo is created using intended parents or donors gametes (Egg and Sperm). Surrogate mothers egg is not used in this process. An intended mother or donor egg is fertilized with intended father or donor sperm in the laboratory to form an embryo. This embryo is cultured in the laboratory for two to six days and when the embryo is developed to a fluid cavity, it is implanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother. The baby born through this process is biologically connected with the intended parents (if their sperm and egg are used to form zygote).