Becoming a Surrogate Mother: The Pros & Cons

Surrogacy gives parents who might not have the opportunity to have a baby because of infertility or other biological or medical reasons a chance to conceive their own biological child without going through the sometimes grueling process of infertility treatments. However, as with every good thing, there are pros and cons that should be considered if hiring or becoming a surrogate mother.

Pros

• Becoming a surrogate mother is a big decision that should not be taken lightly. Take the time to consider both the pros and the cons of surrogacy before making a final decision. If you decide to become a surrogate mother you will be giving new life a chance and giving a couple a chance at a family. Surrogacy takes away the need for a potential mom to have to endure years of infertility treatments and allows for the child to be biologically related to the new parents, unlike an adopted child.

Cons

• A potential surrogate mother must go through a battery of medical tests and treatments that are not necessarily easy on her. These include fertility tests, hormone treatments and fertility treatments. They must also go through psychological screenings and medical exams that test for sexually transmitted diseases. There is also the issue of giving up the child after having carried him for nine months. This can be difficult for the woman who has just given birth and could lead to problems with custody. The cost of getting a surrogate mother are also extremely expensive, often costing upwards of $100,000.

Types of Surrogacy

• Two separate types of surrogacy exist that have pros and cons. The traditional form of surrogacy is where the surrogate mother donates her own eggs and is therefore biologically related to the baby. Therein lies the pro and the con. Being related to the baby gives the surrogate mom more buy-in for the pregnancy, but also gives her some legal challenge to the baby should she decide she wants to keep the child. The other type of surrogacy is called a gestational surrogacy which means that the mother simply carries the baby but the eggs and sperm are both donated.

Legal Ease

• Six states allow surrogacy in any form while 11 completely prohibit the practice. The other 34 states do not have a clear law on the books for surrogacy. Basically what this means is that if you decide to hire a surrogate in one of those 34 states then you are setting yourself up for a legal battle should the surrogate mother not want to give up the chid she has carried. The six states that allow surrogacy are Arkansas, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington