When a woman fails to conceive a baby due to some reasons,
she requires the help of another woman, who carries her baby in her uterus
through the process called surrogacy. The carrier woman is known as a surrogate
and she has to undergo In Vitro
Fertilisation (IVF) in order to place the fertilized egg into the
surrogate's uterus. Before opting for surrogacy
in India, infertile couples should know the facts about two primary types
of surrogacy,
In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate donates her own eggs
and is impregnated through the process of artificial insemination known as intrauterine insemination, or IUI with the
intended father's sperm. Therefore, the traditional surrogate acts as both the
egg donor and as the actual surrogate for the embryo.
Facts about Traditional Surrogacy
1. Sometimes, the intended mother fail to produce mature
eggs, that is, ovaries do not produce normal follicles due to
ovulatory dysfunction. In such situations, the IUI procedure is followed on
surrogate mother. In this procedure, the infertility specialist will transfer
sperm that is taken from the biological father and will subsequently transfer
that sperm into the surrogate's uterus so that fertilization may take place
naturally.
2. A traditional surrogate will undergo insemination at the
time of her natural ovulation, occasionally necessitating medication prescribed
by her doctor to make sure that she does ovulate.
3. The child will have a genetic link to his father, since
the father's sperm was used in creating the baby. There is no genetic link to
the intended mother; which is a primary difference between traditional and
gestational surrogacy.
4. Therefore, with traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is
also the biological mother of the child. This type of surrogacy is typically
only used if the biological mother's egg and/or the biological father's sperm
are unable to be used.
5. Generally, people over the age of 50 or women who are
unable to use their own eggs use traditional
surrogacy since the option frees the intended parents from age-related
limitations.
Benefits
It removes the age bar to get pregnant and even allows one
of both the parents to be the genetic parent.
In gestational surrogacy, the egg and sperm of the intended
parents are used to form an embryo through a process called in vitro fertilization
and later it is transferred in surrogate’s uterus to carry it for pregnancy. In
most of the cases, it will take between three and five days for the embryos to
develop in the laboratory prior to transferring them to the surrogate. Then,
once the embryo has successfully been placed into the surrogate's uterus, the
surrogate will carry the embryo through the pregnancy term until its birth.
Facts about Gestational Surrogacy
1. With gestational surrogacy, the surrogate's eggs are not
used at all. Therefore, the child will not be related to the surrogate
biologically.
2. It allows a couple to have a biologically related child
by using a surrogate as the carrier for the couple's embryo.
3. The aid of a gestational surrogate is needed when a woman
is unable to conceive naturally or through fertility treatments.
4. This option is explored after fertility drugs or in-vitro
fertilization have proven unsuccessful, or if either party has irregularities
in their reproductive organs that complicate conception.
5. The rate of success when using in vitro fertilization
will depend upon several factors such as the age and health of the biological
mother who is providing the eggs.
6. The process of gestational surrogacy can take several
years including the amount of time to find an adequate surrogate, extraction of
viable eggs and sperm can take several weeks from intended parents, preparation
of surrogate for pregnancy with a
hormone regimen that can take several months, implanting the embryos and
additional nine months for the gestational surrogate to carry the baby.
Benefits
The gestational surrogacy allows the infertile couple to
have their biological child, which otherwise is not possible through any other
process. The intended parents will have their names in birth certificate and
have legal rights on the child. Surrogate would have no legal right on the
child and surrogacy cost would be
almost same for both the options.
Dr Neeraj Pahlajani
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