Surrogacy is when another woman carries and gives birth to
a baby for the couple who want to have a child.The HFEA does not regulate
surrogacy.Surrogacy may be appropriate if you have a medical condition that
makes it impossible or dangerous to get pregnant and to give birth.
Intended parents may seek a surrogacy arrangement when
either pregnancy is medically impossible, pregnancy risks present an
unacceptable danger to the mother's health or is a same sex couples preferred
method of procreation. Monetary compensation may or may not be involved in
these arrangements. If the surrogate receives compensation beyond reimbursement
of medical and other reasonable expenses, the arrangement is considered commercial
surrogacy; otherwise, it is referred to as altruistic. The legality and costs
of surrogacy vary widely between jurisdictions, sometimes resulting in
interstate or international surrogacy arrangements.
Types of surrogacy
- Gestational surrogacy (GS)
- Gestational surrogacy with embryo from both intended parents (GS/IP)
- Gestational surrogacy and egg donation (GS/ED)
- Gestational surrogacy and donor sperm (GS/DS)
- Gestational surrogacy and donor embryo (GS/DE)
- Traditional surrogacy (TS)
- Traditional surrogacy and donor sperm (TS/DS)
The type of medical conditions that might make surrogacy
necessary for you include:
- absence or malformation of the womb
- recurrent pregnancy loss
- repeated in vitro fertilisation (IVF) implantation failures
Full surrogacy (also known as Host or
Gestational) - Full surrogacy involves the implantation
of an embryo created using either:
- the eggs and sperm of the intended parents
- a donated egg fertilised with sperm from the intended father
- an embryo created using donor eggs and sperm.
Partial surrogacy (also known Straight or
Traditional) - Partial surrogacy involves sperm from the
intended father and an egg from the surrogate. Here fertilisation is (usually)
done by artificial insemination or intrauterine insemination (IUI).
