Six questions and answers about surrogate motherhood

Surrogacy is the solution to overcome infertility related to the impossibility of carrying a child and having a live birth. However, there are many myths and misconceptions about this process, so we decided to shed more light on it.

Read more about the causes of male and female infertility in our blog!

Read more about the reasons of male and female infertility in our Blog!

What is surrogate motherhood?

   It is a program of reproductive medicine. In this technology, the embryo is transferred to the uterus of a surrogate mother, who carries it through the pregnancy. In this case, the surrogate mother is not a biological mother because she has no connection with the embryo. It is conceived by combining the genetic material of a future mother and father. In case of need, she may be related to only one of the parents, if the parents need donor material (donor oocytes or donor sperm).

Is surrogate motherhood legal?

Although surrogacy is regulated differently in different countries, we only provide services that are legal. Our company operates in countries where surrogacy is protected and guaranteed by local laws. In addition, we provide legal services according to your situation and destination, because we’re not only working on your pregnancy, but also on your ability to go home with a child to realize your dreams.

In short, the situation looks like this: in the countries where our agency is based, surrogacy is regulated by local laws, which describe the criteria and responsibilities of a person who wants to become a surrogate mother; when you contact us, we start working on your home country situation, so we provide the way how to recognize a child by your country authorities.

Who can become a surrogate mother?

According to the laws, it should be a young woman, without any diseases and conditions that could harm a future pregnancy, with her child (which means she has already had at least one successful pregnancy and birth), and her child must be healthy. These are the basic points of the laws, however, most of the candidates will not pass the following tests, because we require perfect health and readiness to become a surrogate mother from both physical and mental health.

After you are provided with a surrogate mother selected by us, you can be sure that she is the best candidate you can find. We will also be happy to share her health information with you during the pregnancy so that you will always know what is going on with her and the health of your future baby.

Who uses the service of surrogate motherhood more often?

Our couples are unique in most of their characteristics, that’s why it’s difficult to make a unified portrait. We have provided many programs for couples who were unable to carry a pregnancy, usually due to previous uterine surgeries or various anomalies. There were also cases of unexplained infertility where couples experienced a lot of miscarriages. Sometimes the future mother’s endometrial growth was insufficient due to underlying diseases and her gynecologist recommended considering surrogacy.

There are a few things that our couples have in common: they are very persistent in a way to succeed in the birth of a healthy baby, and they face some problems to go for a surrogacy program in their home country, if for example this issue is not regulated by local laws.

Who has the right to be a parent after surrogate motherhood?

The laws of the countries where we operate are very strict about this: only the biological parents who have signed a contract with a surrogate have the right to be considered parents after the birth. The biological parents will be written on the first official paper of their child, the birth certificate.

There are some cases in the world where a surrogate mother decides to keep a baby after birth. To prevent this, we do not work in countries where it is possible by law, and we work with surrogates before programs that allow this to happen. We will never accept a surrogate into the program before she understands the process, all the possible consequences and responsibilities.

How is the relationship between parents and surrogate mother regulated?

Communication between parents and surrogates is one of our priorities. However, there is no legal answer to how their relationship should be structured. For example, some couples prefer to have regular phone calls with the surrogate to see how she’s doing, what’s new in her family, or even to visit her. Other couples prefer to delegate all communication to us and receive weekly or monthly reports. Whatever your wishes are, we will provide you with all the options to make them a reality.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if any questions occur.

We are always ready to help!

Author: Oleksand Petrenko, Medical Manager of Pons Medical Group