Important Info – The Benefits of Surrogacy
If a couple is not having success with in vitro fertilization, egg donation, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatments, another option might be to consider surrogacy. In fact, it might be the only option that they have left.
Surrogacy is when another woman carries a child to term for a couple who cannot have children on their own. After the baby is born, the surrogate turns over all rights and privileges to the couple.
There is a traditional surrogacy and a gestational surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy is when the woman cannot produce eggs to be fertilized. The eggs will come from the surrogate and the sperm will come from the father of the unborn child. The egg and the sperm will come together via intrauterine insemination to plant inside of the surrogate.
Gestational surrogacy is for women who can provide eggs to be fertilized. However, they are unable to carry a child to term. The eggs and the sperm are from the parents or by donors other than the surrogate. In vitro fertilization is used to inseminate the eggs to create an embryo. The embryo goes to the uterus of the surrogate.
The surrogate procedure can start from $38,000 - $54,000. The cost of the surrogacy goes to the future parents. This cost includes the pregnancy of the surrogate and other expenses, such as counseling for the surrogate, transportation for the surrogate, replacement wages, maternity clothes, health insurance, and other fees as needed.
The benefits of surrogacy allow one or both adult parents to have a genetic connection to the baby. The parents are involved from conception to birth. It is an alternative to an adoption and something to think about if they don’t want that option.
The downside to this is that the parents or the surrogate can be blindsided. There are scams of this nature where the surrogate decides that they want to keep the baby and not honor the agreement. If the parents don’t pay the medical bills, the hospital will shift the responsibility to the surrogate.