Parentpedia

What Experts Say

Surrogacy is something different than adoption although your state's adoption laws may have a say in how the process works.

In The Infertility Answer Book, Brette McWhorter Sember points out that most states don't have laws that specifically address the issues around surrogacy, which means that to the law, a surrogacy adoption may look an awful lot like a typical adoption. It is extremely important that you find a lawyer with specialized training and experience to help you make decisions around surrogacy and supervise the process.

The Two Kinds of Surrogacy

There are two kinds of surrogacy to consider:

This is when a woman also donates her egg when she agrees to carry your child. Your reproductive endocrinologist will inseminate the surrogate with sperm from your partner or sperm donor in an intrauterine insemination (IUI). The surrogate mother will be biologically related to the baby.

In gestational surrogacy, the intended mother's cycle will be synced with the surrogate's cycle using fertility drugs to enhance ovulation in the intended mother and suppress it in the surrogate.

Then eggs are taken from the intended mother and fertilized with sperm from her partner or sperm donor. Finally the fertilized embryos are placed in the surrogate's body. The surrogate mother will not be biologically related to the child she is carrying.

Once the baby is born, the intended mother (and perhaps the father if he is not supplying the sperm) will need to adopt the baby. The details around this will depend on the laws in your state and the agreement you have worked out with your chosen surrogate.