Legal constraints of using surrogacy

Background and Purpose: Surrogacy is a new assisted reproductive technology requiring to be perceived based on the real experiences of surrogacy patients regarding its legal issues so that legislators are able to enact appropriate laws for such patients' safety. This study pursues the goal to examine the experiences of commissioning mothers and surrogates confronting legal issues. Methods: This paper is part of the findings of a larger study conducted over 20 months from October 2011 to June 2013 using the grounded theory approach to explain the process of becoming a mother in commissioning mothers. The experiences of mothers using gestational surrogacy have been analyzed through the conventional content analysis method and then reported in terms of the legal issues of surrogacy. Overall there have been 20 participants including 11 commissioning mothers and 4 surrogates. For incorporating the resources, 5 fertility clinic personnel have also been interviewed. Totally 25 unstructured in-depth interviews have eventually been performed. Data have been collected via purposive sampling method within Royan Institute, and then due to the inadequate number of samples, sampling continued in other surrogacy treatment centers. Results: Commissioning mothers and surrogates suffer a great amount of stress at the time of childbirth, and lack of legal support imposes plenty of problems on them. Participants’ experiences revealed a common theme of “legal constraints” with three dimensions as “inefficiency of current laws”, “receiving inadequate educational support services” and “stress and frustration”. Conclusion: Results indicate disagreeable legal settings for surrogacy leading to a high level of stress imposed on the clients using these technologies. The treatment team should inform the families about the entire process ahead of them before they make their final decision so as to enable them to enter the process fully aware.