Surrogate
Parenting
There
are numerous types of surrogate parenting. From the extreme
situation of a woman actually carrying through pregnancy and
delivering a baby for some other woman to being somewhat of a
surrogate parent to your students if you are a teacher. But
when most people thing of the surrogate parent, they are
thinking about one woman carrying a developing fetus/baby for
another woman who for one reason or another cannot carry her
own. There are many ethical and legal issues around Surrogate
parenting in this manner. And the legal issues vary from state
to state in the U.S.
The technical aspect of
surrogate parenting, the medical part, can be one of two
procedures. The woman who will be carrying the baby can be
impregnated by the sperm of the husband of the woman who is
unable to have a successful pregnancy or eggs can be harvested
from the mother and fertilized by the father's sperm and
implanted into the surrogate parent for the pregnancy. In the
first scenario, the mother is not biologically linked to the
child, but the father is. The second method, the baby is
biologically connected to both, but carried by the surrogate
parent.
Often a female relative is
chosen as the surrogate parent. In this way the mother of the
baby can more easily share in the pregnancy. Surrogate
parenting has been going on for a long time. It is even
mentioned in the bible in the case of Sarah and
Abraham.
Surrogate parenting is an
option for lesbian couples who want to have a baby. In these
situations, a sperm donor is used as the surrogate parent. And
one or other of the females of the lesbian couple is
inseminated by a doctor or herself and hopes for conception.
Later on, if the couple wants another child it is possible for
the other partner to be the one who bears the child. This gives
each woman a chance to be a biological parent.
The legal issues that are
involved become more complex when strangers are the surrogate
parents. There are contracts and questions about the "what
ifs". what if there is a miscarriage? What if the surrogate
mother changes her mind because she becomes too attached to the
baby to let go. What if their is a marital break up and the
non-biological parent wants custody? What if after paternity
testing the child is actually not the biological child of
husband and the surrogate mother was impregnated by someone
else? etc. It is a complicated issue with emotional, financial
and legal risks. But it may be the perfect solution to couples
who want a family and may work out just fine.
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