The Surrogacy Search

Starting Out

Part One

By Michele St. Martin

Of all of the alternatives to traditional biological parenting, surrogacy is the one most often sensationalized and misunderstood. Perhaps the most famous case is that of "Baby M," in which Mary Beth Whitehead was hired as a surrogate for William and Elizabeth Stern. Whitehead was inseminated with Stern's sperm, but her own eggs were used, and she was the child's biological mother. After the child was born, Whitehead refused to give up rights to the child. Custody of the baby was awarded to William Stern, but Whitehead was allowed visitation rights.

Rare but highly publicized stories like this hurt the image of surrogacy and give hopeful parents an imbalanced view of a process that creates countless happy families each year.

"A surrogate is a unique type of woman who is willing to be impregnated using IVF or intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedures and will carry a baby for intended parents in order for them to complete their family," says iParenting Expert Advisor Sharon LaMothe. 

According to Len Brooks, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Surrogacy and a surrogate parent himself, there are three types of surrogates:

• Gestational surrogates become pregnant when embryos generated from the eggs and sperm of the intended parents are placed in the surrogate's uterus.
• Gestational surrogates with egg donors use donor-contributed eggs, which are fertilized with the intended father's sperm and transferred to the uterus of the surrogate.
• Traditional surrogates are inseminated with the intended father's sperm, and the surrogate is the biological mother.

How do intended parents and surrogates meet each other? What kinds of screenings take place? What sorts of agreements are signed?

Brooks says that surrogacy agencies offer services such as medical exams, legal representation and matching couples and surrogates. "Each surrogate is screened psychologically and financially before any insemination or IVF transfers take place," he says. Although his agency does place advertisements geared toward both potential surrogates and intended parents, he says that "word of mouth" is the way most surrogates and intended parents choose his agency.

Want to see more?

• Gift-giver: Profile of a Surrogate Mother
• Dollars and Sense of Infertility Treatment
• Choosing Assisted Reproduction: Social, Emotional and Ethical Considerations
• Talk about it!