Traditional Surrogacy and Gestational Surrogacy

Traditional surrogate mother and gestational surrogate are frequently used interchangeably but they are two different terms although somewhat related. Gestational surrogate and traditional surrogate are both women who willingly carry a baby for other women who for one reason or the other cannot carry pregnancy themselves.

Traditional surrogacy:

Traditional surrogacy is the type of surrogacy arrangement in which the surrogate goes through artificial insemination or In Vitro Fertility Treatment with sperm from intending father or from a donor. The egg used in the process is provided by the surrogate herself and this means that she has a genetic link with the child. This form of surrogacy usually involves some risk to the intending parents as the surrogate may eventually decide to have custody of the child since it is her blood.

Traditional surrogates

Traditional surrogates are women who make use of their own egg and who undergo artificial insemination with the sperm of the intending fathers or donor sperm. The surrogate mother carries the baby for nine months, gives birth to the baby and transfers the baby to the intending parents to rear. The traditional surrogate mother is the child’s biological mother due to the fact that she made use of her egg in the process.

Gestational surrogacy:

Gestational surrogacy is the surrogacy where the surrogate carries a pregnancy and gives birth to a child that is formed from the egg and the sperm of the intended parents or from donor egg and donor sperm. A donated embryo can also be used in the process.

The main thing about this type of surrogacy is that gestational surrogate has no biological relation with the child and is only acting as the gestational carrier of the pregnancy.

Currently, the most used surrogacy type in the US is the gestational surrogacy.

Gestational surrogates

A gestational surrogate is a woman who carries a baby from the egg and sperm of the intending parents or from sperm and egg of donors. She is not genetically related to the child because her egg was not used during the IVF cycle. The gestational surrogate is referred to as the birth mother just because she is the one who carried and give birth to the child. The child mother in the traditional surrogacy is referred to as the biological mother because the egg that was used in the process was her egg.

In both gestational surrogacy and traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother carries the baby for nine months, gives birth to a child and hands over to the intending parents. While some women go into surrogacy for commercial purposes, others do it entirely for humanitarian purpose.

Why people use surrogacy to build family:

A woman who has womb issues and cannot give birth,

A woman who has gone through hysterectomy,

A woman who has health issues that makes carrying a child risky,

When there is unexplained reason for infertility,

A woman who has miscarried a couple of times,

Due to the age of the woman,

Due to the sexual orientation of the intending parents.

Gay couples and surrogacy

Surrogates frequently help gay men to build a family, and an egg donor is needed with gestational surrogacy. If a gay couple decides to go for traditional surrogacy, one of them provides the sperm that is used in the fertilization of the surrogate mothers’ egg through artificial insemination (AI). Sometimes they mixed up their sperm and do the game of chance with the fertilization.

The surrogate mother would carry the baby give birth and hands over to the gay parents. However, if the gay parents decide to go for gestational surrogacy, they need egg donated by an egg donor. The egg is fertilized in the lab and the embryo is transferred into the womb of the surrogate mother.

Conditions that must be met by the surrogate mother

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) recommends that all surrogate mother be at least 21 years of age.

The surrogate mother must also have given birth to at least a healthy child.

She must also have a child under her care less than 18 years of age to ensure that she is fully aware of what pregnancy and caring for a child means.

The surrogate mother must undergo some tests to show that she is physically and mentally healthy to carry a baby.

It would also be checked if the surrogate mother would have any psychological issue with abandoning the baby to the intending parent after delivery.

ASRM also recommends that all surrogate mothers go through a complete medical check and pregnancy history assessment to evaluate the possibility of a healthy pregnancy and baby.

The surrogate must not be coerced into the procedure. She must be willing to go through the process.

Intended parents for surrogacy arrangements can be standard couples, male-male gay couples, female-female lesbian couples and single men or single women.

The physician and nurses who manages surrogate cases must be experienced.

The surrogate cycles are regulated by the Federal Drug Administration. The FDA provides the requirements for deciding donor-eligibility, donor screening and donor testing. This means the egg and sperm donor need to go through some tests to determine eligibility.