The role of intended parents in the surrogacy process

The role of intended parents in the surrogacy process

Every surrogacy process starts with the desire of intended parents to have a biological baby in spite of their medical complexities. Intended parents play a crucial role in overall process of surrogacy. To start with the surrogacy, the main job of commissioning couples is to find the best surrogate agency that have profound knowledge and good experience in dealing with the medical and legal aspects associated with surrogacy. Sterile couples need to check for referrals and can do extensive research on internet to get in touch with the best among the sea of companies. Finding the suitable agency is not as easier as it looks because there is no federal rule governing that by whom the agency should be started and how it should be operated. Therefore, finding the professional who have profound knowledge is very important for intended parents.

Once they are successful in finding the agency, they should prepare for IVF therapy through which a surrogate mother is impregnated. In IVF therapy, an intended mother ova and intended father sperm is taken out by performing a small surgery. The ovum of intended mother is fertilized by combining it with the intended father’s sperm. In some cases, if intended parents fail to produce quality gametes, donor sperm or egg is used to form zygote.  This zygote is cultured in a laboratory for at least three to six days and once the physicians visually confirm the growth of placenta, the zygote is injected into the uterus of the surrogate mother. She then carries a non-biological baby for the next nine months and handover the baby to commissioning couples immediately after birth. 

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.