Types of Surrogacy

Surrogacy is the process in which a woman under legal contract carries and delivers the child to a couple of people who cannot conceive because of medical reasons.

Terms used in surrogacy:

  • Intended mother. She is the women from the couple who is not able to conceive because of medical reasons.
  • Intended father. He is the father of the couple who is not able to conceive because of medical reasons.
  • Surrogate mother. She is the woman who is going to grow the child in her womb for nine months

 Types of Surrogacy On the basis of Embryos

  1. Traditional Surrogacy. In this process, the father’s sperm from the couple is injected into the surrogate mother either naturally or artificially the surrogate mother carries the child for the full term and delivers it for the couple through artificial insemination. This is rarely preferred by infertile couples because a genetic link gets created between intended parents and surrogate mother.
    The surrogate mother is the biological mother of the child. But in this process, the child genetically represents the father and the surrogate mother
  2. Gestational Surrogacy. In this process, the embryo formed by the combination of intended mother’s egg and intended father’s sperm is injected in the surrogate mother artificially In this process, the child genetically represents the intended father and intended mother o In this process, the child do not genetically represent the surrogate mother. This process is preferred during surrogacy because it does not have any genetic link between intended parents and surrogate mother. This process allows intended to have a genetic link with the child. In this case, the biological mother will be the one whose eggs are used and the surrogate mother is called the birth mother.
  3. Altruistic surrogacy. In this procedure, the surrogate mother does not receive any additional financial payments for carrying pregnancy apart of necessary medical expenses. Altruistic surrogacy is very cost-efficient.
  4. Commercial surrogacy. In this procedure surrogate mother is additional base payment for carrying pregnancy apart of necessary medical expenses. This usually happens when the surrogate mother is not related to the mother.