Help understanding surrogacy: types of surrogacy and each of their names

Hello,

I’m from the UK, where as far as I know surrogacy is allowed, but with a wide number of restrictions that make British people travel overseas to undergo this treatment. It is very unfair, but the world still has a lot to do to make the minds of its narrow-minded governors evolve. Anyway, I’ve heard there are different types of surrogacy. I’ve always though when you choose a gestational carrier, it automatically means that she will deliver half the genetic load of the baby-to-be because her eggs are used. In other words, it is as if the man and the surrogate had intercourse together, isn’t it? But now I’ve heard that the spouse can deliver her eggs, so I got myself into a mess, how is this possible?

Pls, help!

Dear nikki,

basically, the surrogacy process involves using one woman’s uterus for implanting an embryo and carrying it until childbirth, when the baby will be delivered to another person or couple. That is the reason why this woman is called “surrogate” or “gestational carrier”.

For surrogacy, IVF is required, since the fertilized egg has to be placed inside the surrogate’s uterus. At this point, we can distinguish between two types of surrogacy, each one of them working in a somewhat different way:

• – Traditional surrogacy: In this case, the surrogate acts as both the egg donor and as the gestational carrier for the embryo. She is inseminated via intrauterine insemination (IUI). With traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is also the biological mother of the child. It is indicated only in cases where the biological mother’s eggs or biological father’s sperm is unable to be used.
• – Gestational surrogacy: This is the type of surrogacy that you already knew, that is, the surrogate’s eggs are not used at all. This means the child is not related biologically to the surrogate, as she is, as this name suggest, just a “gestational carrier”. In this case, the embryo is created using both the biological father’s sperm and the biological mother’s egg. The assisted reproductive technology used in this type of surrogacy is in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Even though these types of surrogacy are quite different, you should keep in mind that both are as safe as a traditional natural pregnancy. In both cases, the surrogate is screened to check her overall state of health prior to starting the surrogacy process. When gestational surrogacy is chosen, the surrogate will have to administer a series of medications that will help her develop a larger amount of eggs for use in the IVF procedure.

After the baby’s birth, he/she will go home with the new parents, regardless of the surrogacy type chosen.

I hope that I have been able to help,

Regards

In brief, during traditional gestational carrier procedures, the infertile couple’s sperm is inseminated into the carrier, the resulting child would have the genes from both the carrier and the infertile couple’s husband. During a gestational carrier arrangement, an embryo (created from the egg and sperm of the infertile couple) is transferred to the carrier uterus. I believe traditional surrogacy is not that popular nowadays, though. Not insisting. Just my personal view.