What are the pros and cons of surrogacy?
Being generous and blessing the lap of couples who aren't able to conceive is a beautiful feeling. Yes, that's exactly what a surrogate mother does. She carries the baby within her body, not for herself but for other couples. She does all the formalities required to bring to earth a healthy child and at last, she hands it over to the couple who are looking for it. Meanwhile, a surrogate mother gets a good handful of compensation for doing so. Surrogacy is a beautiful concept that is widely popular today. Most of the surrogate mothers reportedly feel blessed to bring a new life to earth for other couples. On the other hand, few reportedly suggested the minor discomforts that come with surrogacy.
The article below is going to provide you with a clear picture of the pros & cons of being a surrogate mother.
What are the pros and cons of surrogacy?
Surrogacy although sounds like a good concept but along with its pros, cons are there as well. A brief discussion about it has been done in the beneath section.
Pros of surrogacy
Following are the benefits linked with surrogacy.
Gets a place in a Support Committees
They are highly supported by various communities. Although, these surrogate mothers might have to overcome several obstacles. These hardships include background checkups, health screening, psychological health, etc. Despite this, they get support in return from everybody for the overall help they are providing.
Gets the Chance to Experience the Beautiful Pregnancy Period
Most of the women enjoy their pregnancy time (8 to 10-month) phase. The surrogate mothers get the overall chance to enjoy the entire phase again. Moreover, they don't have to take the headache of taking care of the needs of the child after its birth. But the entire cycle can be experienced once again which can evoke all the sentimental motherly emotions all at once. One requirement here is that you should already be a mother of at least 1 child to be eligible to take the responsibility of conceiving for others.
Significant Compensation in Return
For all the hard work and service they provide, the surrogate mother receives a fat amount in return as a generous combination. It ranges somewhere from $40,000 to $50,000. Other benefits they get is to have health insurance, medical facilities, and other childbearing expenditure involved in the package during the entire surrogacy period.
Legal Protection
The best part of surrogacy is that they get legal proof taken to fight against any odds. In the contract paper, the roles and responsibilities of the intended parents and the surrogate mother are clearly stated. Other terms and conditions are also mentioned like the bearing of expenses will be by which party, & the surrogate mother is not going to be responsible for the child's upbringing after he is born.
Fulfilling Experience
Surrogate mothers are very generous and hold love for everybody especially for those who aren't able to conceive. They feel fulfilled and at peace while helping such parents who struggle to become parents. Overall their goal is to fill the life of everybody around them with love and happiness while they feel fulfilled with their biggest role in it.
Cons of surrogacy
Following are the difficulties that a surrogate mother has to encounter after the birth.
Leads to Serious Health Concerns
A surrogate mother is at risk of high pregnancy complications & might face other severe health hardships. All such decisions might affect her health badly leading to unseen health problems.
Time Consuming Process
The exact procedure of becoming the surrogate is very time-consuming & lengthy. It involves a lot of formalities starting from online applications to attending appointments. These processes take almost 12 months to complete.
Intake of Strong Medications to get Pregnant
Various checkups like blood tests, ultrasound, and highly reactive medications are involved in the process like estrogen and progesterone.
Physically & Emotionally Challenging
Various physical and mental tests are involved in the surrogacy process. You need to pass in all such assessments to prove that you are capable enough to carry a child. You need to be alert to attend all the timely appointments & take the medications within time. Surrogate mothers go through various mental & physical challenges that might be hard to explain.
What are the effects of surrogacy when the child grows up?
Children who took birth through surrogacy go through multiple changes, whether emotionally or physically. Such children after growing up face drastic modifications within themselves. We have cumulatively presented these changes below.
Emotional Effects
Children who are born via surrogacy are at a higher risk of getting depression when they grow. Moreover, they are prone to have an identity crisis. They might get emotional and feel welcomed or partially treated by their families once they get to know that they aren't their real birth parents.
Physical Effects
Physically, these children might get low birth weight at the time of their birth. Moreover, the expectancy of having multiple births is also predicted through surrogacy delivery. In contrast to this most of them are born healthy like normal pregnancies. Although they might have no face structure or genetic physical resemblance with their identical real parents. Other than this, there is no research to prove the effect of surrogacy on the physical health of children.
Key Takeaways
Unlike the last few years, Surrogacy is not getting completely accepted by various couples. The surrogacy pregnancy trend has been possible due to the increase in education and advancement in technology. It's one of the best ways to have children for those who want to have their children but can't conceive. The various good things like getting committee or group support, legal protection, and beautiful motherly experience are additional advantages for a surrogate mother. Helping those in need is the most beautiful thing in life and surrogacy is the same blessing for childless couples.
References
https://familytreesurrogacy.com/blog/pros-cons-surrogate/