Surrogacy: What is it, How Does it Work, Types of Surrogacy and What are the Challenges?

Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband Nick Jonas recently announced on social media that they have welcomed a baby via surrogate. As medical science is advancing by leaps and bounds and medical practitioners are striving in the quest of finding solutions to every problem, new techniques have emerged that prove to be a boon for people worldwide. One such remarkable technology that has gained popularity lately is surrogacy.

We have been hearing this medical term a lot for the past few years and now, thanks to Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, it has become the talk of the town again. The couple announced welcoming their first child via surrogacy on Friday evening (Saturday morning in India).

So, what is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is basically a type of pregnancy where a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for another woman who is unable to do so due to any reason. Of late, this process has helped numerous people in experiencing parenthood. Even celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Shilpa Shetty, and Shah Rukh Khan have welcomed their babies via surrogacy.

How does it work?

Surrogacy involves fertilizing the egg of a woman with the sperm of a sperm donor through medical procedures to make an embryo. This embryo is then implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother, who carries and eventually gives birth to the baby. This method is sought by both men and women who wish to have a baby via surrogacy.

Types of Surrogacy

Traditional surrogacy

In this method, the surrogate mother gets artificially inseminated with the sperm of the father. The surrogate then carries and delivers the baby who then gets raised by his/her legal parents. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother is considered the biological mother of the baby as it was her egg that was fertilized. In some cases, parents also opt for a donor sperm that is used to fertilize the egg.

Gestational surrogacy

This technique involves gathering the eggs from the mother and fertilizing it with the sperm from the father before placing the embryo into the uterus of the gestational surrogate. In this method, the surrogate has no biological link to the baby as the egg and sperm were both sourced from the legal parents.

Challenges

Welcoming a baby via surrogacy involves following a legal process as stated by the government. The intended parents and surrogate mothers are required to sign agreements so to avoid any future problem pertaining to the legal rights of the child. Meanwhile, ­surrogacy can also be emotionally challenging for the surrogate mother who tends get attached to the baby. Whereas, just like any other pregnancy, even surrogacy has some medical risks involved.

In recent times, this method of having a baby has boomed worldwide as more and more parents have started to opt for it. Recently, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband Nick Jonas shared a post on Instagram announcing that they have welcomed a baby via surrogate.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZAJvizvjf4/

The couple got married in 2018.

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