Who is a surrogate mother |gestational carrier|traditional surrogacy

Who is a surrogate mother?

A surrogate mother is a woman who agrees to carry a non-biological baby for the tenure upon the agreement made with commissioning couples. She is impregnated using some of ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) be it artificial insemination process or in-vitro fertilization process. A surrogate mother carries the non-biological baby up to the term and gives birth, and then the hospital hands over the baby to the intended parents. There are two different types of surrogacy;

Surrogate mother as a gestational carrier:

A surrogate mother who accepts gestational type of surrogacy is referred as gestational carrier. Women who accepts this surrogacy is impregnated through IVF (In-Vitro fertilization) process. Here is a brief overview on how gestational surrogacy works

In this process, an embryo is created using commissioning couples gametes or donor gametes (if intended parents fail to produce quality and healthy gametes).

Strictly, at no point of time surrogate mother’s egg is used in this process. If the gestational carrier ovum is used to create embryo, then it is not considered gestational surrogacy.

The embryo is created from the gametes of either commissioning couples or donor using a specialized ART technique.

The created and cultured embryo is transplanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother. She then takes care of the baby and releases the child immediately to intended parents after birth.

Surrogate mother: In traditional surrogacy:

Unlike gestational surrogacy, a woman who accepted traditional surrogacy to carry baby is biologically connected with the child. In traditional surrogacy, she is impregnated through artificial insemination process where the sperms of an intended father are injected into the ovaries of a surrogate mother to achieve pregnancy. However, this surrogacy is completely banned by most of the states due to ethical and emotional factors associated in this process. 

What is traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy?

What is traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy?

A surrogacy is a process where a woman accepts to carry pregnancy for nine months upon a contract made between intended parents. Normally, ladies enter into this contract to get a financial gain. However, couples who seek surrogacy fails to carry their own baby due to the medical complexities. Therefore, surrogate agencies made an agreement between these parties where a surrogate mother needto carry a non-biological baby and relinquish the child immediately after birth. According to the contract made between both parties, the surrogate mother need to cooperate with the medical team to carry pregnancy successfully.

A substitute is impregnated through two different ways; one is traditional way which is considered illegal and banned by most of the states and other is gestational way which is accepted by most of the states. In traditional surrogacy, a lady is impregnated through artificial insemination process. In AI, the intended father’s sperm is directly injected into the ovaries of a substitute. Thereby, the best swimmers fertilize the ova of a substitute mother and thus she becomes pregnant. However, the baby born through this process is biologically connected with surrogate mother and intended father. Therefore this process is completely banned as it is considered illegal and unethical.

In gestational surrogacy, a proxy is impregnated through IVF therapy. In this treatment, the intended mother should take preferred drugs to produce multiple eggs during ovulation because a successful IVF therapy needs multiple eggs. When the physicians find the matured ova in ovaries, they perform a small surgical procedure and take out the ova. Meanwhile, sperm is also taken out from the intended father. This sperms is combined with the ova stored in a test-tube. It takes couple of hours for sperms to fertilize the ovum. Once the ovum is fertilized and grown to a fluid cavity, it is injected into the uterus of a surrogate mother and thereby she becomes pregnant and carries a non-biological child for next nine months.