Surrogate pregnancy

Surrogacy is an arrangement or agreement whereby a woman agrees to carry a pregnancy for another person or persons, who will become the newborn child's parent(s) after birth.

Intended parents may seek a surrogacy arrangement when either pregnancy is medically impossible, pregnancy risks present an unacceptable danger to the mother's health or is a same sex couple's preferred method of having children. Monetary compensation may or may not be involved in these arrangements. If the surrogate receives money for the surrogacy the arrangement is considered commercial surrogacy, if she receives no compensation beyond reimbursement of medical and other reasonable expenses it is referred to as altruistic. The legality and costs of surrogacy vary widely between jurisdictions, sometimes resulting in interstate or international surrogacy arrangements.

There are laws in some countries which restrict and regulate surrogacy and the consequences of surrogacy. Some couples or individuals wanting a child in this manner but who live in a jurisdiction which does not permit surrogacy in the circumstance in which they finds themselves may travel to another jurisdiction which permits it. (See surrogacy laws by country and fertility tourism.)

The fertilisation of the surrogate may take place in a number of ways, each of which has implications for the genetic relationship of the resulting child with the surrogate and the future parents. There are two main types of surrogacy: gestational surrogacy and traditional surrogacy. In the United States, gestational surrogacy is more common than traditional surrogacy and is considered less legally complex.

Traditional surrogacy (also known as partial, genetic, or straight surrogacy) involves natural or artificial insemination of a surrogate. If the intended father's sperm is used in the insemination, then the resulting child is genetically related to the intended father and genetically related to the surrogate. If donor sperm is used, the resulting child is not genetically related to either intended parent(s) but is genetically related to the surrogate.

In some cases, an insemination may be performed privately by the parties without the intervention of a doctor or physician. In some jurisdictions, the 'commissioning parents' using donor sperms need to go through an adoption process in order to have legal rights in respect to the resulting child. Many fertility centers which provide for surrogacy assist the parties through the process.

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Wikipedia