What You Need To Find Out In Becoming A Mother Surrogate

By Rachel Lee Reynolds

Looking back, we can say how much we are blessed by high technology offering advantages in the way we live and deal with each other. Aside from making work far easier, technology also changes the way we see the world. It compels us to find other methods of executing processes such as the reproduction of the human race. The process of child bearing has developed another method called surrogacy. Take a moment to read on and find out what it is all about.

Simply put, a mother surrogate is a woman who gives birth to a child whose intended parents are not the surrogate. Infertility is the usual reason why there are couples who choose to hire a mother surrogate. However, aside from heterosexual infertile couples, surrogacy is usually resorted to by independent single women who want to have their own children and couples who are of the same sex. Rich infertile persons who are able to financially support a mother surrogate during pregnancy may take this path and is called commercial surrogacy.

There are two general kinds of surrogacy. The first one is traditional because the mother surrogate is the biological mother of the child. The other is called gestational surrogacy as the mother surrogate's womb serves as a host of the embryo being implanted until it becomes a fully developed fetus. In traditional surrogacy, the sperm needed to make fertilization happen can be taken from the male parent who requests a child or can be from a donor. In the gestational surrogacy, the mother surrogate cannot be called the child's biological mother since she is only a host of the developing embryo.

The controversies surrounding surrogacy have been sparked by its legality and the legitimacy of the child. Since it has become a popular practice in various parts of the world, many countries and US states have legislated laws which allow for the legality of surrogacy, settle the legitimacy of the child and the intended parents. In some states, pre-birth orders are issued in order to decide who should be the intended or legitimate parents of the child. This is a provisional order to avoid any legal lawsuits that might arise.

Much more controversy regarding surrogacy is fueled by the feminists who think surrogacy is no different from prostitution. They believe that it makes mother surrogates "commodities" in a patriarchal society and thereby disrespecting the bodies of women as well the children. No matter how strong the argument is, many people do not seem to buy it because they believe children, even those who are not biological, play a crucial part in the formation of the basic unit of society which is the family. There are also scientific studies made by social scientists who observe that children born through surrogacy do not form emotional closeness with their surrogates but rather tend to be attached to their intended parents. This observation is a refutation of the expectation that children are more attached to the women who gave birth to them.

Whether morally good or bad, the source of the controversy is the fact that surrogacy is a non-traditional method of child bearing. Despite the different views regarding surrogacy, the most important thing is that the children born out of mother surrogates are given all the rights, respect and love which they rightfully deserve to have in order to live harmoniously in the world. - 29962

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