Surrogacy; who’s considering it and why?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Guest blog written by Craig Paton and Marta Woznicka from CRGH

At CRGH we have been helping people create families through Surrogacy for a number of years. We have a dedicated Surrogacy team of nurses, doctors and co-ordinators who are on hand from beginning to end, helping intended parents navigate what can sometimes feel like a complicated process. By creating a treatment pathway specifically for our Surrogacy patients, we’ve been able to make the process as simple and efficient as possible; something we know our patients appreciate. However, Surrogacy laws in the UK mean that not everyone is able to consider it as a treatment option. With that in mind, we wanted to take a minute to explain who might consider Surrogacy.

Same Sex Male Couples

Same-Sex male couples are the biggest cohort of surrogacy patients. For obvious reasons, Surrogacy is a logical option for same sex male couple who would like to start a family of their own. Some same sex couple are lucky enough to have a friend of family member who volunteers to be their surrogate, while others find a surrogate through organisations such as My Surrogacy Journey, or independent routes such as TwoDadsUK which can signpost other routes to meet surrogates. The same is true of egg donors; some couples have a “known-donor” while others are matched through an egg donation programme, such as that at CRGH. Intended parents often choose to fertilise 50% of the donated eggs with each of their sperm, meaning that there are embryos created which are genetically linked to each parent, as well as to each other.

• 

• 

…there are still legal considerations to take into account. At CRGH we partner with renowned surrogacy lawyers to help all of our surrogacy patients…

Marta Woznicka

Single Male Patients

Similarly, single male patients are also able to use Surrogacy treatment to create a family of their own. The process is much the same as for a same-sex male couple, where the intended parent uses both an egg donor and a surrogate to create and carry an embryo. Single fathers now enjoy similar rights to same sex male couples when it comes to creating a family through surrogacy. That said, there are still legal considerations to take into account. At CRGH we partner with renowned surrogacy lawyers to help all of our surrogacy patients understand and navigate the legal landscape when it comes to legal parenthood.

Single Female and Heterosexual Couple Patients

The surrogacy picture when it comes to single females or hetrosexual couples is slightly less straight-forward. According to UK regulations, there must be a clinical reason why the intended parent is unable to carry the pregnancy themselves. Essentially, a single female or hetrosexual couple can’t use a surrogate just because they want to, there must be a reason for them to do so. “Suitable” reasons are varied, but generally relate to the intended parent being unable to carry a healthy pregnancy to full-term themselves. While this makes Surrogacy treatment an option for patients who have suffered repeated miscarriage in the past, it doesn’t make it an option for everyone and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

We encourage anyone considering Surrogacy treatment to speak with our Surrogacy team at CRGH who are experts in all aspects of the process.

We look forward to welcoming you to CRGH in 2022.