Surrogacy: an International Phenomenon

This paper provides an overview of surrogacy and the potential complexities involved in commissioning a surrogate baby. It reflects on the lead author’s previous surveys on this difficult topic that were conducted in 1997 and 2003. It offers an insight into the legal and ethical viewpoints on the matter that are held by various countries. Introduction: What is a Surrogate? Van Den Akker (2010) defines a surrogate mother as a woman who carries a child for someone else, usually an infertile couple. Surrogacy can be defined either as Gestational, where the surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intended father or sperm donor; and Genetic, where the surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child. Eggs are extracted from the intended mother or egg donor and mixed with sperm from the intended father or sperm donor, the embryos then being transferred into the surrogate’s uterus. Figure 1 gives an overview of the potentially complex nature of commissioning a surrogate baby. Figure 1: The potentially complex nature of a commissioned surrogate baby – adapted from ‘Surrogate Mothers’ by Olga B A Van Den Akker. Growth of Surrogacy According to Van Den Akker (2010), however, these simple definitions betray the complex web of ethical, legal and practical considerations that must be untangled before the practice can be condoned. Surrogacy is not a new issue; there are examples of this practice going