All About IVF
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and husband Nick Jonas on Saturday announced welcoming a baby through surrogacy
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and husband Nick Jonas on Saturday announced welcoming a baby through surrogacy. The super-excited couple took to Instagram to share the news with millions of fans and followers. “We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate. We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family. Thank you so much,” the happy couple has said.
With this, arises a question: What is surrogacy and why do families opt for it?
Surrogacy
Surrogacy is a third-party reproduction, as said by researchers, where a woman agrees to carry the pregnancy for intended parents. The woman who carries the pregnancy is called the surrogate.
Various definitions of surrogacy lead to a common fact that it is different from the traditional process.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines surrogacy as the process of carrying and delivering a child for another person. The New Encyclopedia Britannica defines surrogacy as a practice in which a woman bears a child for a couple unable to produce children in the usual way.
Several other definitions say surrogacy is a practice where one woman carries a child for another knowing that the child will be handed over to the parents after birth.
Types of Surrogacy
There are two types of surrogacy: normal surrogacy and gestational surrogacy.
Normal Surrogacy: In this case, the surrogate is the biological mother of the child as the mother’s egg is used for conception.
Gestational surrogacy: In this case, the surrogate has no biological connection with the child. The genetics of the baby remains identical to the parents. In this type of surrogacy, the egg and sperm of the parents are fertilized through IVF or in-vitro fertilization and then the embryo is transferred into the surrogate.
Why do families opt for surrogacy
While infertility is an obvious reason, there are several other reasons due to which couples opt for surrogacy.
Surrogacy is a boon for same-sex couples who want to embrace parenthood. Similar is the case for single individuals who wish to have a child; while a single woman who is unable to conceive a child will seek a surrogate, a single man will need a surrogate as well.
Many parents choose to have a child through a surrogate and prefer it over adoption as surrogacy promises genetic similarity with the child. Everybody longs for a child who is blood-related to them and surrogacy is a blessing in this case.
Hysterectomy or congenital uterine abnormality also makes it impossible for women to conceive. In such cases also, a woman or a couple can reach out to surrogates.
Pregnancy complications also make it difficult for women to carry a child. In many cases, women are unable to carry the child to full-term owing to several biological complications. While medical assistance is a solution to this, surrogacy is definitely a good choice.
Lastly, the decision to opt for a surrogate for child birth is a very personal move. Every couple or individual who opts for a surrogate should be left alone with their decision.
Surrogacy in India
In India, gestational surrogacy is the only type of surrogacy permitted.
Many times we see celebrities talking about surrogacy. Actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Karan Johar, Sunny Leone have welcomed children through surrogacy.
In India, commercial and altruistic surrogacy is followed, though recently a Bill has been passed in Parliament to ban commercial surrogacy. While altruistic surrogacy means the surrogate mother will not receive any monetary benefit, except medical expense, commercial surrogacy is, as the name suggests, commercialization of the surrogacy process and services.
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 lays down specific eligibility criteria for both the couple opting for surrogacy and the surrogate mother and prohibits commercial surrogacy.
Source: Times of India
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