Surrogate Motherhood

It is believed that the ultimate joy a woman can attain is from motherhood. From ancient time onwards mother hood is considered above everything else. For a son/daughter the meaning of mother and father is nothing less than God. The birth of child is attained only after the 9 months in the mothers body. It is considered as the deepest attachment in the world. Its not only seen in the world of humans but also in all other animals world this relation cant be replaced by any other relation.

But the deepest regret in this world is also the unavailability of this position-motherhood. Every couples wish that they have their own children, so they can bring up them; enjoying each and every moment they spend with them and in the end they should look after them. But according to WHO records the number of infertile couples is also increasing. Here Science come to help them, over the years Science is advanced so much that the success rate in this case is increasing, and so that every couple have their own childs.

The one method adopted in this purpose is that of surrogate mothers. The meaning of surrogate is that "a substitute, especially a person deputizing another in a specific role or office". This is one the methods adopted if the woman who intend to parent is infertile in such a way that she cant carry the pregnancy to term. Here Science come to her help developing the technology of surrogacy.

In surrogacy a carrier is paid/not paid to carry a child up to baby's birth and then handing over the new born child to the biological parents. In this method she may be paid for this service called commercial surrogacy and she may be not paid this from is called altruistic surrogacy. In both forms all the medical expenses related to pregnancy and birth are paid by the intended parents.

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in many part of the world, but commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002. The legal problems associated with surrogacy is that in may countries the woman who gave birth to the child is considered as the mother by default. But now in many jurisdictions the possibility of surrogacy is also taken into account and giving pre-birth orders through courts and placing the name of the intended parents in the certificate of birth. the other problem is that the surrogate mother claiming the child after the birth, what will happened if the couples[intended parents] divorce before completing the surrogacy period?
In order to solve all these problems detailed surrogate contract are signed first,and proper counseling of every situation are given to both biological parents and surrogate mother.

Proper counseling is the best way to avoid all type of legal problems related to it. The other problems associated to surrogacy is in the case of the biological parents and surrogate mother is from two different nations and surrogacy is not legally accepted in the biological parents country. In this case what should be the nationality of the child? In the case of adoption there are proper laws, the best way of recognition is of accepting the child is born for the biological parents when they are in abroad, if the recognition is in the other way when the child grown then the biological parents may be forced to explain all the things to their child.

The other problem related to surrogacy is ethical in nature. Many says that commercial surrogation may change the body of surrogate mother to that of a machine, it is not fair that the surrogate mother who give birth to the child is not allowed to live with the new born baby even for a short time, and also in the normal cases surrogate mother cant see the child in the future. These are the main ethical question which have to be answered satifiely.

But the other points are also strong. If this method is not allowed then what should happened to that huge number of people who have no other hope to see their own baby? So all Genuine cases must be allowed and proper counseling must be given to both biological parents and surrogate mother. This should give a new ray of hope for that couples. And the other valid point is that if the child live with the surrogate mother for some time say two years, then the departure should be the most difficult one. One of the other solution is that if any close relative is willing for surrogacy, it may be better as the child should be in the middle of them for all time, but how this will affect the surrogate mother and biological parents is very difficult to even imagine.

In the world motherhood and fatherhood are the most important relation and position in the world, no matter what is the material positions of the family. In fact its not a relation; its life.

Sajeev