What are the types of Surrogacy?
Surrogacy is a big blessing for the parents who find it hard to conceive a baby of their own. This method has helped numerous childless couples all around the globe. But, we all know that good keeps never comes free and involves various complications. The same is true for surrogacy as well. Surrogacy has tremendously increased in the last few years. Many celebrities have opted for this profession as a full-time job. Surrogacy is not considered a simple one-step or a one-way process. It has different variations to it. There are various options available for a surrogacy process. The determination of the surrogacy type is made by the way embryos in the surrogacy process are created. The practice of surrogacy has been proven to have many side effects as well as good effects of it.
Although, many states have legally banned it due to various complications involved in the surrogacy process. This was made illegal when the surrogate mothers were seen to get affected mentally and physically by the surrogacy process. They find it difficult to give the baby to somebody else after carrying it in their belly for 9 months. Moreover, most of them refused to do so. Hence, the laws have become more strict since then, and most of the nations declared it to be an illegal activity in existence. To overcome such issues, the traditional surrogacy method is rarely followed today in India and other countries. This process involves the genetic investment of the surrogate mother. This was the prior reason to declare it illegal.
The modern methods involve the involvement of the donor eggs from the intended parents to simplify the entire surrogacy process. Here, it's still accepted in various countries. The article today is going to make you aware of the different types of surrogacy with their short brief. Read the entire blog to understand different categories of surrogacy.
How many types of Surrogacy are there?
There are two different types of surrogacy. These two are asserted below -Gestational Surrogacy
Gestational surrogacy is an extremely common type of surrogacy in the fertility industry today as compared to other types of surrogacy procedures. It makes the best use of the IVF & the donor eggs. This type of surrogacy method is generally considered to be more expensive as compared to other traditional alternatives. It is because it requires much more noninvasive techniques & a lot of medical checkups. In this method, the surrogate mother isn't genetically related to the child she is bearing in her belly. The gestational surrogacy primarily required the three most important steps to fulfill itself -- Egg Retrieval or Egg Donation: In this step, the egg donor is chosen by the intended couple. The intended mother can also provide her eggs for further fertilization to start. Various fertility medications are required to be taken up by the egg donor for the incitement of the ovaries. It takes around 30 minutes approximately to finish the egg retrieval process.
- Embryo Fertilization: In the second step the eggs are being fertilized by using the sperm of the father. It further creates the embryos & is done once the eggs are retrieved successfully in the first place. Generally, they are either directly transferred to the surrogate mother on the spot or are kept frozen till the time intended parents want it to be used.
- Embryo Transfer: The embryo transfer process takes place after the embryo fertilization process is completed. In this step, the embryos are placed inside the uterus of the surrogate mother. The surrogate mother isn't going to have any genetic relations with the child she will be holding inside her belly because it's from the egg donor parent. To perform this transfer, the catheter is used. The entire process doesn't include any intake of medications for pain and sedation. It is a very simple process and very low risks are associated with it.
Traditional Surrogacy
In the traditional type of surrogacy, the biological eggs of the surrogate mother are used for getting pregnant and conceiving the child for intended parents. Here, we can say that the surrogate mother is genetically related to the child that's being given birth for the intended parents. In the previous years, IVF - In vitro fertilization was extremely popular in the traditional method of surrogacy. It was earlier provided by assisted reproductive technology.Earlier, during this process, the intended father of the child donated the sperm that was used to artificially put inside the uterus of the surrogate mother. After this process is completed, she used to carry the baby in her belly for 8-10 months like a normal pregnancy. It soon was banned and considered to be violating the rules of the country. It's because it started taking a heavy toll on the mindset of the mother emotionally and her physical health plus with other legal obligations at the time of giving the baby to the intended parents after birth. Most of the countries have banned it thoroughly and it is considered to be illegal in various nations today.