The birth of a new human being is always a miracle. Unfortunately, not everyone in this world is capable of experiencing the joy of parenthood.
The latest advances of medicine in the field of assisted reproductive technologies have given a new hope to those people who have already despaired of ever having children. But, as is often the case, the development of science is somewhat ahead of the moral and legal adaptation of society to the new technological achievements. The norms of law are far from perfect and always follow the development of society. Legal support of surrogate motherhood, as well as other programs based on today’s assisted reproductive technologies, is one of the most difficult issues in modern legal practice.
The statistics of infertile couples in our country shows that not every Ukrainian woman can become a mother. On average, every fifth couple cannot have children. But thanks to today’s methods of reproductive medicine there is a chance to experience the joy of motherhood and parenthood for those who never thought about it before.
The process of introducing methods of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in Ukraine began in the early 80s. In ART clinics surrogate motherhood program is carried out for women with congenital or acquired absence of the uterus.
Surrogate motherhood is one of the methods of infertility treatment. A newborn baby is biologically and legally a child of parents whose biological material was used. Surrogate mother eggs are never used, because the surrogate mother can not have a genetic connection with the child.
The first significant successes appeared only in 1989 with the birth of the first child of a surrogate mother. In our country, this program was first carried out in 1994. Despite the fact that surrogacy programs have been around for quite a while, our attitude to this phenomenon is still ambiguous. Some believe that in these cases motherhood becomes the subject of trade and exploitation. Others think that the only opportunity for parents to have genetically related child is the surrogacy program. (1)
Indeed, this issue has many aspects – medical, ethical, psychological, social.
In Ukraine medical indications for surrogacy are regulated by the Order of the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine No. 787 dated September 9th, 2013 that reads:
The medical indications for surrogacy program are as follows:
- absence of the uterus (congenital or acquired);
- deformations of the cavity or cervix;
- synechia in the uterus, which is not amenable to treatment;
- diseases in which pregnancy and childbirth can threaten the life of a woman, but which do not affect the health of the unborn child;
- multiple failed IVF attempts (4 or more);
- severe somatic diseases.
Contraindications to surrogacy in Ukraine are:
- congenital or acquired deformities of the reproductive organs;
- benign tumors of the genital organs;
- psychical deviations;
- cancer tumors (regardless of which organ is affected);
- infectious and inflammatory processes in the body;
- severe somatic pathology.
As for the genetic parents of the child, here contraindications for surrogacy include the presence of mental or behavioral disorders in a woman and/or her husband.
Requirements for a surrogate mother: A surrogate mother should be a competent woman between the ages of 20 and 35 who has her own healthy child and not have medical contraindications for a healthy pregnancy. Potential surrogates should have a blood group with a positive rhesus. A woman should have good health and no mental disorders, chronic diseases and bad habits.
One of the most important aspects is the readiness of a woman to bear a child for her biological parents. Think over all the pros and cons, consult on all issues with the curator of the program. If the surrogate mother is officially married, then the husband must support her initiative. If the husband is against it (does not sign the agreement document), then such a woman cannot get into the surrogacy program.
The Network of Reproductive Medical Centers (ISO 9001:2015 certified) “Mother and Child” that employs the highly renowned reproductive embryologists and the long-standing members of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine (UARM) has been successfully involved for over eleven years in practical application of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and various types of surrogacy programs at affordable cost that resulted in birth of 9,074 healthy children and helped thousands of people throughout the world to find the happiness of parenthood. (2)
Please contact IVF Group Surrogacy Services at +1(213) 277-5874 or visit our website at ivf-international.com to find out more or to schedule a consultation with a reproductive embryologist.
