Surrogacy is a very useful tool for those who want a bigger family but who can’t carry a child themselves. Advances in medical technology have allowed surrogacy to be more personal than ever before. In gestational surrogacy, a couple can use their own eggs and sperm to create embryos, which a surrogate then carries for them.
Other couples still choose traditional surrogacy, which involves the surrogate mother using her own eggs. That means that the surrogate carrier is technically the biological mother of the child. There are many reasons why a couple might choose traditional surrogacy, but there are two reasons that apply to many of the cases.
It isn’t possible to harvest eggs
There are many reasons why a couple may not be able to provide a surrogate with eggs. One of them might be that it is a same-sex couple where both partners are biologically male and therefore cannot produce eggs. The woman might be older, meaning she is no longer capable of undergoing an egg harvesting procedure. It’s also possible that the woman could have medical conditions that make collecting her eggs difficult.
There is a risk of passing on a genetic disease
Some genetic conditions are random, while others tend to pass down within the same family. If your family has a history of one or more conditions that the child could inherit, such as sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis, having a surrogate provide not just gestational services but also a healthy egg can give your family a better shot at adding a new member.
Cost could also be a factor that influences couples to considered traditional surrogacy. Harvesting eggs and IVF procedures for the surrogate mother can be far more expensive than the fertilization techniques used in traditional surrogacy. Thinking over all of your options, including the different kinds of surrogacy, can help you determine what solutions are best for helping your family grow.
