Surrogate mother def
What It Is and How Does Surrogacy Work
Written by Rebecca Buffum Taylor
Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Robinson, MD on November 04, 2021
In this Article
- What Is a Surrogate Mother?
- Who Uses Surrogates?
- Finding a Surrogate
- How to Choose a Surrogate
- Using a Surrogate
- Legal Issues With Surrogates
There's still some controversy about using a surrogate mother to have a baby. The legal process is also tricky because it varies from state to state. Even so, whether it's because of fertility problems or other reasons, surrogacy is an option for you and your partner. Find out how it works and see if it's right for you.
What Is a Surrogate Mother?
There are two kinds:
Traditional surrogate. It's a woman who gets artificially inseminated with the father's sperm. They then carry the baby and deliver it for you and your partner to raise.
A traditional surrogate is the baby's biological mother. That's because it was their egg that was fertilized by the father's sperm. Donor sperm can also be used.
Gestational surrogates. A technique called "in vitro fertilization" (IVF) now makes it possible to gather eggs from the mother (or an egg donor), fertilize them with sperm from the father (or a sperm donor), and place the embryo into the uterus of a gestational surrogate.
The surrogate then carries the baby until birth. They don't have any genetic ties to the child because it wasn't their egg that was used.
A gestational surrogate is called the "birth mother." The biological mother, though, is still the woman whose egg was fertilized.
In the U.S., gestational surrogacy is less complex legally. That's because both intended parents have genetic ties to the baby. As a result, gestational surrogacy has become more common than a traditional surrogate. About 750 babies are born each year using gestational surrogacy.
Who Uses Surrogates?
If you're a woman, you may consider a surrogate for several reasons:
- Medical problems with your uterus
- You had a hysterectomy that removed your uterus
- Conditions that make pregnancy impossible or risky for you, such as severe heart disease
You may want to think about surrogacy if you tried but couldn't get pregnant with a variety of assisted-reproduction techniques, such as IVF.
Surrogates have also made parenthood an option for people who might not be able to adopt a child, perhaps because of their age or marital status.
If gay men decide to use a traditional surrogate, one of them uses their sperm to fertilize the surrogate's egg through artificial insemination. The surrogate then carries the baby and gives birth.
A gay couple might also choose an egg donor, fertilize that donated egg, and then have the embryo implanted in a gestational surrogate to carry until birth.
Finding a Surrogate
There are several ways you can find a surrogate mother:
Friends or family. Sometimes you can ask a friend or relative to be a surrogate for you. It's somewhat controversial. But because of the high cost of surrogacy and the complex legal issues it raises about parental rights, a tried-and-tested family relationship can be simpler to manage.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine accepts certain family ties as acceptable for surrogates.
It generally discourages surrogacy, though, if the child would carry the same genes as a child born of incest between close relatives.
A surrogacy agency. Most people use one to arrange a gestational surrogate. There are about 100 agencies now operating in the U.S. They act as go-betweens.
An agency helps you find a surrogate and make arrangements. It also collects any fees that get passed between you and the surrogate, such as paying for their medical expenses.
How to Choose a Surrogate
Right now there aren't any regulations about who can be a surrogate mother. But experts agree on a few points about how to select one.
You should choose surrogates who:
- Are at least 21 years old
- Have already given birth to at least one healthy baby so they understand firsthand the medical risks of pregnancy and childbirth and the emotional issues of bonding with a newborn
- Have passed a psychological screening by a mental health professional to uncover any issues with giving up the baby after birth
- Sign a contract about their role and responsibilities in the pregnancy, such as prenatal care and agreeing to give you the baby after birth
Using a Surrogate
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine says surrogates should get a medical exam to check that they are likely to have a healthy, full-term pregnancy.
The organization suggests they get tests that check for infectious diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B and C.
Surrogates should get tests to make sure they have immunity to measles, rubella (German measles), and chickenpox. Also, you may want to ask that they get a medical procedure to visually "map" the uterus, which can help the doctor check their potential to carry a pregnancy. Surrogate mothers should have their own doctor during pregnancy rather than use yours.
The cost of surrogacy can range from $80,000 to $120,000. A lot of different things go into the price, such as whether the surrogates have their own medical insurance or whether you need to buy a surrogacy-pregnancy policy for them.
Legal Issues With Surrogates
Parental rights aren't guaranteed after a surrogate pregnancy. The law continues to change as reproductive technology and the very definition of a "parent" changes.
There isn't a federal law on surrogacy and state laws vary.
After a surrogate pregnancy in some states, you may still have to pass adoption proceedings to gain legal custody of the child. In other states, a "declaration of parentage" before birth lets you avoid having to "adopt" the baby.
To protect your rights as parents-to-be -- and the rights of the child you're hoping to have -- hire an attorney who specializes in reproductive law in your state. They can write a surrogacy contract that clearly spells out what everyone needs to do.
A contract like that may help if legal issues come up after birth. It can also outline agreements about a variety of possible scenarios with the pregnancy, such as what happens if there are twins or triplets.
Infertility & Reproduction Guide
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis & Tests
- Treatment & Care
- Support & Resources
Surrogate mother Definition & Meaning
- Top Definitions
- Quiz
- Examples
- British
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun
a person who acts in the place of another person's biological mother.
an animal that is given another's offspring to raise.
Medicine/Medical. a woman who helps a couple to have a child by carrying to term an embryo conceived by the couple and transferred to her uterus, or by being inseminated with the man's sperm and either donating the embryo for transfer to the woman's uterus or carrying it to term.
QUIZ
WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?
Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!
Question 1 of 7
Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.
Compare embryo transfer.
Origin of surrogate mother
First recorded in 1975–80
Words nearby surrogate mother
surreptitious, surreptitiously, surrey, surrogacy, surrogate, surrogate mother, surround, surrounding, surroundings, surround sound, surround theater
Dictionary.
com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use surrogate mother in a sentence
Betty opened her family’s doors to me and she always looked out for me like a surrogate mother.
Locked up in the Land of Liberty: Part I|Yariel Valdés González|July 7, 2021|Washington Blade
Catch the two together in the new comedy movie Together Together about a single man’s quest for a surrogate mother, and catch Notaro at the virtual OZY Fest 2021 this weekend.
The Funniest Listens of the Week|Tracy Moran|May 13, 2021|Ozy
Taraji manages to bring an equal measure of truth to the mother in her character.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist|Judnick Mayard|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Three on-the-record stories from a family: a mother and her daughters who came from Phoenix.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But my sources, my young women and their mother, heroically held firm.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I thought about the mother, her fear of the dark, of the harm she feared might come to her daughters.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Meanwhile two kids were taken from their mother when she flew back to the UK from Turkey.
Britain May Spy on Preschoolers Searching for Potential Jihadis|Nico Hines|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There was no doubt thought of his own loss in this question: yet there was, one may hope, a germ of solicitude for the mother too.
Children's Ways|James Sully
"The Smoker," and "Mother and Daughter," a triptych, are two of her principal pictures.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Now first we shall want our pupil to understand, speak, read and write the mother tongue well.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The mother's lips could not finish the charge she was about to put upon her innocent child.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
The Authorised Version has: “And as a mother shall she meet him, and receive him as a wife married of a virgin.”
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway
British Dictionary definitions for surrogate mother
surrogate mother
noun
a woman who bears a child on behalf of a couple unable to have a child, either by artificial insemination from the man or implantation of an embryo from the woman
Derived forms of surrogate mother
surrogacy (ˈsʌrəɡəsɪ), nounCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Surrogate motherhood: case studies.
Any risk has a degree of probability of occurrence, as well as non-occurrence.
The task of the participants in the process is to take all possible measures to reduce the likelihood of such events occurring.
Registration of documents in the registry office.
At the moment, the current legislation does not contain an exhaustive and clear list of requirements for the content and form of documents required for submission to the registry office. nine0003
After giving birth and signing all the necessary documents, the surrogate mother was preparing for discharge, and the genetic parents went to the registry office.
Employees of the district registry office informed about the need to provide a copy of the license of the clinic where IVF was done, as well as a special certificate.
Genetic parents were forced to look for an option to quickly obtain a certified copy of the clinic's license and resolve the issue with the execution of other documents.
nine0003
The difficulty was that the IVF procedure was carried out in St. Petersburg, and the registry office in which it was supposed to perform registration actions in Moscow.
Registration of documents in the maternity hospital.
There was no lawyer in the maternity hospital who could provide qualified assistance in preparing the necessary documents.
As a result, the chief physician, fearing the possibility of being involved in a lawsuit, initially refused to certify the signature of the surrogate mother, and then demanded that an agreement be provided between the genetic parents and the surrogate mother, as well as other documents, some of which, in the opinion of the chief physician, should have been mandatory notarized. nine0003
The chief doctor's demands were outside the legal field and were justified solely by his inner convictions.
With the help of a lawyer, the genetic parents urgently filed a complaint with a higher supervisory authority, whose employees promptly responded to the appeal and explained in an accessible form to the chief doctor the specifics of his performance of his official duties.
Brother and sister were born 24 days apart. nine0007
After repeated unsuccessful attempts to treat infertility, it was decided to increase the likelihood of pregnancy by transferring (implanting) embryos to 2 surrogate mothers.
As a result, both surrogate mothers became pregnant, and one of them had a multiple pregnancy, which caused premature birth.
The doctors refused to induce premature labor or perform a caesarean section of the second surrogate mother to synchronize the date of birth of the children, because. there was no medical indication for this. nine0003
As a result, the difference in date of birth between two siblings and a sister was 24 days.
The registry office staff explained that they would be happy to help, but the Family Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for the possibility of changing the date of birth in order to preserve family and medical secrets for children born by a surrogate mother, in contrast to similar cases when children are adopted from an orphanage.
Understanding that every time parents present birth certificates at work, in kindergarten, school or when traveling abroad, parents will be forced to answer questions that are not pleasant for them, and also fearing for possible psychological trauma for children, it was decided to apply to one from the district courts of Moscow. nine0003
The court satisfied the demands of the parents and ordered the registry office to “synchronize” the dates of birth of the children.
A surrogate mother tried to sell HER child.
Crime reports are replete with reports of parents trying to sell their children, but this story is fundamentally different from the rest - the decision to “sell” the child was made before the onset of pregnancy!
Having entered the global Internet, the woman found an advertisement for a married couple looking for a surrogate mother. nine0003
The day before the embryo transfer procedure, the doctor saw on the ultrasound picture that the surrogate mother was already pregnant!
The surrogate mother did not invent fables and immediately told the truth - she was haunted by the thought that pregnancy might not occur as a result of embryo transfer and then she would not be able to earn money, but the idea came right away - guaranteed to get pregnant naturally, and a partner was found fast…
Confirming the full awareness of the committed actions, the “surrogate” mother said: "I understand that in fact I would give birth to my own child, and they (the married couple) would think that genetically this is their child .
.. and I would still give it to them."
When asked that, in fact, she wanted to sell her own child, the already former surrogate mother answered with silence.
An attempt by a surrogate mother to return the children 2 years after birth..
2 years after the birth of the twins, the surrogate mother was very “upset” when she learned that the genetic parents were not married. nine0003
The surrogate mother formalized her “disorder” in the form of a statement of claim to challenge motherhood.
The fact is that the employees of the registry office, referring to the content of Part 4 of Art. 51 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation consider that a man and a woman must be married until the transfer of the embryo to a surrogate mother.
If a marriage certificate was issued after the embryo transfer or was not issued at all, genetic parents will definitely face serious difficulties in obtaining a birth certificate. nine0003
Of course, the very fact of the influence of marital status on the possibility of infertility treatment is a violation of the Constitutional rights of genetic parents who do not want or are not able to register a marriage.
This is confirmed by the content of Art. 35 of the Federal Law "On the protection of the health of citizens".
The court that considered the case denied the surrogate mother her claims and retained parental rights for genetic parents. nine0003
Agreement with a surrogate mother.
One of the common causes of disputes and conflict situations between genetic parents and a surrogate mother is an agreement that does not meet special requirements.
In fact, the contract has clear signs of a contract for the provision of services.
At the same time, it must be remembered that the contract should not violate the rights and freedoms of a citizen and, of course, should contain mechanisms for resolving the most common situations in such processes. nine0003
Before starting preparations for the transfer of the surrogate mother's embryo, the genetic parents asked for a legal review of the contract drawn up by a lawyer working for a company headed by one of the genetic parents.
The subject of the agreement was the agreement of the parties that the genetic parents pay a fee to the surrogate mother for agreeing to record the genetic parents in the birth certificate as the father and mother of the child born by the surrogate mother. In fact, the genetic parents and the surrogate mother unintentionally signed a "heartfelt confession" to human trafficking. nine0003
Another contract, which fell into my hands, obliged the surrogate mother to sign an agreement to register the quote: "the rights of genetic parents to a child born by a surrogate mother."
Thus, the contract infringed on the inalienable right of the surrogate mother to independently decide on the issue of signing documents, and the child was considered as a thing subject to transfer by assignment of the right. Such conditions are not valid, with all the ensuing legal consequences. nine0003
Most of the contracts drawn up by lawyers who do not specialize in such matters, as well as contracts posted on the Internet, do not contain a number of essential conditions.
Pins:
Each of these situations occurred solely because of the confidence of genetic parents in the presence of sufficient knowledge and understanding of the features of "Surrogate motherhood".
Therefore, I recommend that genetic parents, be sure to contact a specialist, at least for an oral consultation and drawing up an agreement with a surrogate mother. nine0003
You should not hope that the information posted on thematic sites and forums will be reliable, sufficient, and most importantly - applicable in a particular individual situation.
description, content, interesting facts and much more about the film
Film Surrogate mother
2007
1 hour 58 min.
12+
Russia
Melodrama
Russian
2007
1 hour 58 minutes
12+
Russia
Melodramas
Russians
Surrogate Mother is a captivating melodrama from Russian director Valery Akhadov.
The author raises a serious question: how ethical it is to use surrogate motherhood, and what a woman feels when her own child is torn from her heart. Everyone who decides to watch the movie online will find excellent acting, high-quality shooting and, most importantly, an unpredictable plot. A young girl, Natasha, comes to the capital to achieve success both in her personal and professional fields. She is naive, sympathetic, believes in people and does not yet suspect that in a big city everyone wants to snatch a tasty morsel, not caring about the feelings of others. Shortly after her arrival, Natasha meets a young and wealthy businessman, Nikolai. The enchanted heroine is sure that since Nikolai is so actively showing signs of attention to her, it means that he is in love. However, in reality, everything turns out to be much more prosaic. Nikolai is looking for a surrogate mother for a childless American couple, and Natasha comes in handy. Without wanting it herself, the girl finds herself in the center of a tragic story.
nine0003
Rating IVI
2020, melodrama
Can you dream of more than
2016, Kazakhstan, drama
Alien children
2010-2011, Russia, melodrama
Seraphim Beautiful
2013, melodrama
Mistress host big city
actors
2005, Russia, Dramas
85 minutes
2021, Kazakhstan, Melodramas
Nadezhda
2015, Kyrgyzstan, Dramas 9003
minutes0004 Butterfly (in the Kyrgyz language)2008, Russia, arthouse
85 minutes
VOLOKOK
Actors
2013, Russia, Drama
Golden Cage (2013)
2012, Russia, Drama
110 minutes
Stories
2020, Russia, Detectives
Time Time
2018, Russia, melodramas
64 minutes
2014-2019, Russia, drama
All treasures of the world
2020, Kazakhstan, melodrama
Irony of love (in Kazakh)
2019, Russia, melodrama
Two against death
Actors
2010, Russia, comedies
82 minutes
Our Russia: Fate eggs
Actors
2011, Russia Dramas
156 minutes
Once upon a time there was one woman
Actors
2007, Russia, melodramas
Tatyana day
2017, Ukraine, melodrama
Ballerina
2020, Kazakhstan, comedy
Council of elders
Actors
2017, Ukraine, melodramas
Rainbow in the sky
2017, Russia, melodrama
Maid
actors
1989, USSR, melodrama
9000 Russia, Drama92 minutes
actors
2014, Russia, Drama
Once upon a time there was a woman
Valery
Akhadov
Ekaterina
0003
Andrey
Chernoshov
Anni
Girardo
Irina
Gurkina
Vadim
Cuts
Russian melodramas
Populpye films
9000 province Natalia earns her living in Moscow by caring for an elderly woman.
For the wrongdoing, the owner kicks her out into the street without money and documents. A friend who sheltered her accidentally introduces Natalya to Nikolai, who introduces himself as a psychologist from the Ministry of Emergencies. He beautifully cares for the heroine and lets slip that he has serious financial problems. Natalya meets Lyudmila, who is looking for a surrogate mother for a childless American couple. The girl wants to help her beloved and decides on a desperate act - to endure and give birth to someone else's child. Nikolai leaves for a long six months, and Natalya suddenly finds out that he is not who he claims to be, and she is not the first victim whom he tricked into deciding on surrogate motherhood. nine0003
Shortly before the birth, the manipulator returns, but Natalya does not forgive him for deception. A healthy girl is born, for whom her American dad David comes to the hospital. The girl is very worried that, observing the contract, she has to give up the child she has carried.
Having unexpectedly learned about the death of the girl's biological mother, Natalya agrees to take care of the baby as a nanny. But Nikolai insists on a genetic examination, citing the fact that he and Natalya may be the girl's real parents. The IVF doctor admits that the heroine is actually the biological mother of the child, and David is the father. nine0003
galchaitak
Watched with my husband, so every 2 minutes he jumped up and got angry! The film caused a storm of emotions! Well made good quality. The lead actress is amazing in this role!
August 25, 2010
wereweroza
I liked the second movie a lot more than the first. Famous actors add interest to online viewing. Surrogate mother is an interesting movie.
October 21, 2012
pkr_rofhycleroascar
A difficult topic is touched upon in the film "Surrogate Mother". However, viewing this picture in good quality does not become painful, on the contrary, it looks easy.
November 12, 2012
