Gestational Surrogacy Vs. Traditional Surrogacy? Which One’s Right for Your Family?
Surrogacy process is a third party reproductive process where a healthy woman agrees to carry the baby of another woman in her womb. The process was first successfully tried in the 80s and since then thousands of babies are born via surrogacy.
Over the course of time, surrogacy has become a reliable method of parenthood for hopeful parents who cannot carry a pregnancy safely by themselves. As you might already know, many famous personalities have become parents through the surrogacy process which further brought the process to limelight.
However, if you are planning to grow your family through surrogacy, you need to decide which type of surrogacy is right for your family – the gestational method or the traditional way. Let’s explore gestational surrogacy Vs. traditional surrogacy.
So, What are These Two Types of Surrogacy Process?
To understand the differences, first we need to know how surrogacy works. Here is an overview:
- The intended parents (who are facing infertility problems) partner with a healthy woman who can safely carry a pregnancy for them. This woman is called the surrogate mother.
- Now, the surrogate mother goes through some medical process and gets pregnant.
- The surrogate will then carry the pregnancy to term and once the baby is delivered, the intended parents take over the legal parenthood responsibilities.
Now, the actual difference between gestational gestational surrogacy Vs. traditional surrogacy is the way the surrogate mother gets pregnant. Let’s take a look:
Traditional Surrogacy
In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother’s eggs are harvested. These eggs are fertilized using the intended father’s or sperm donor’s sperm in the lab in order to create the embryo. The embryo(s) are then implanted into the surrogate mother’s womb to conceive pregnancy. Alternatively, the intended father or the sperm donor’s sperm is used in an artificial insemination process to help the surrogate mother get pregnant. In any method, the surrogate mother remains the biological mother of the baby as it is her eggs being used in the process.
Gestational Surrogacy
In gestational surrogacy, however, the intended mother’s eggs or donor eggs are fertilized using the intended father’s sperm or donor sperm. The resulting embryo is then transferred into the surrogate’s womb to conceive pregnancy. Clearly, the surrogate mother is not the biological mother of the baby as she does nor share any genetic material with the child she is carrying. The surrogate’s role here is to only carry the pregnancy to term and then hand over the parental responsibility to the intended parents.
This is why, in this type of arrangement, the surrogate mother is also called the gestational surrogate or gestational carrier and the process is called full surrogacy.
How Do They Impact Other Aspects of Surrogacy?
Legal Process
In a traditional surrogacy arrangement, the surrogate mother is also the biological mother of the child she carries. Now, the laws regarding surrogacy vary from state-to-state, but in a few states, additional legal steps must be taken to end the surrogate’s parental rights after the baby is born. Intended parents will also have to establish their parentage by legally adopting the baby. Unfortunately, this can cause a delay during which the surrogate may change her mind about giving up the baby.
While these things are discussed before a surrogacy takes place, there have been some cases where a surrogate became too attached to the child and refused to give up parental rights. This can lead to discord, heartbreak and a lengthy and costly legal battle to determine the baby’s true parentage.
In a gestational surrogacy process, most intended parents obtain a pre-birth order while the surrogate is pregnant. This order legally establishes the intended parents as the legal guardians of the child from the moment it is born and ensures the parents’ names are placed on the baby’s birth certificate. This is a very important step as the legal rights of the intended parents are established even before the baby is born and the surrogate cannot claim the baby’s custody.
Emotional Complications
It is obvious that a surrogate will develop an attachment to the baby she carries. But this attachment tends to be stronger if the surrogate is also the biological mother of the baby. The stronger emotional bond could make it harder for her to hand the baby over. This leaves a chance of the surrogate changing her mind mid-term and deciding to keep the baby to herself.
In a gestational surrogacy though, you are more likely to work with a reputable agency and they will provide counseling and support for surrogates throughout the journey. Also, the gestational surrogate does not have any biological attachment to the baby she carries. Most of the time, women decide to become gestational surrogates because they want to give the gift of a child to someone else. They will indeed form some attachment to the child but their joy of helping another family become complete far outmatches other emotions.
Medical Process
A traditional surrogacy typically uses artificial insemination or IUI, which means the surrogate becomes pregnant with the sperm of the intended father or a sperm donor. On the other hand, a gestational surrogate becomes pregnant via IVF using the intended parents’ sperm and eggs or from a donor. The embryo is created in a lab and then implanted into her uterus. Clearly, the medical process is a bit more complicated for gestational surrogacy.
Cost
One of the reasons why traditional surrogacy sounds more appealing to hopeful parents is because it is less expensive. This is because a traditional surrogacy doesn’t require IVF or expensive rounds of fertility medications and egg retrieval.
However, you need to remember that lower medical costs don’t always mean a lower overall cost. While the medical costs are lower, traditional surrogacy leaves a space for legal scuffles to arise. This could drag you into a long legal procedure costing you more.
Wait Time
Remember, that traditional surrogacy is now preferred by only a handful of people, especially those going for private contracts. Most times, the traditional surrogate is a family member of the intended parents, such as mother or sister.
Due to the legal complications that may arise, almost all surrogacy professionals now only accept gestational surrogacy cases. This includes surrogates as well since gestational surrogacy is less legally and emotionally complicated for them. All of these can make it difficult for you to find a surrogate and/or agency who are willing to embark on a traditional surrogacy and increase the overall time taken to complete a surrogacy journey.
The Pros and Cons of Traditional Surrogacy
Pros
Usually, this type of surrogacy has lower medical costs as IVF is often not needed.
This arrangement can also be a better alternative to adoption as one of the parents is related to the child.
Cons
As discussed earlier, the biggest concern of traditional surrogacy is that the surrogate is biologically related to the child and thus she has a legal ground to claim the guardianship of the baby.
The Pros and Cons of Gestational Surrogacy
Pros
The biggest plus point of gestational surrogacy is that it allows both parents to be biologically related to the baby. Generally, gestational surrogacy has a higher success rate since better medical care is followed.
Cons
Gestational surrogacy comes at a higher cost as it involves more sophisticated medical procedures. Moreover, this arrangement requires an IVF process which may take multiple tries which can further increase your financial burden.
Conclusion
Both gestational surrogacy Vs. traditional surrogacy have their pros and cons. While traditional surrogacy is less costly, it leaves grounds for legal complications. Gestational surrogacy follows a much more robust arrangement where the legal rights of all parties are secured. However, it also comes the greater cost.
It ultimately comes down to your family goals and circumstances to determine which one would be most suitable.
Author Bio:
Nina Yao, B.A.S. (N.S.), M.A. (O.M.)
Intended Parents Coordinator and Educator at Physician’s Surrogacy.
Nina looks after the hopeful parents visiting Physician’s Surrogacy and makes sure their parenthood journey through gestational surrogacy progresses smoothly and successfully. She joined Physician’s Surrogacy to help intended parents realize their dreams. She is also a certified international nutritionist and helps patients improve their health through diet and lifestyle modifications.
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