Considering Surrogacy

Surrogacy is an amazing gift that one person can give a couple that are not able to have children of their own. The surrogacy process is time consuming and often fraught with pitfalls along the way. But for many couples and the women prepared to be surrogates, the resulting child makes all of the issues associated with surrogacy seem irrelevant. After all we are talking about producing a new life here. A very wanted life, and it is for this reason that surrogacy is slowly gaining acceptance around the United States and other parts of the world. The purpose of this book is to provide a factual yet balanced report on both sides of the surrogacy process. On the one hand you will find out who can become a surrogate mother and the processes needed to make that happen. But there is also a lot of information here for those people who are looking at engaging a surrogate mother to carry their longed for child. The book explains the legality of the process (it is different according to what state you live in); who can be a surrogate; what costs and payments are involved and how to deal with some of the issues associated with surrogacy such as the emotional bond between mother and child, what to do when things go wrong and how to make the whole surrogacy process as positive as it can be. What many people fail to realize is that the surrogacy process involves a lot more people than the couple wanting the child, and the surrogate mother. Many surrogate mothers have husbands and children of their own that need to be considered when undertaking something this important. Likewise the couples who are hoping for a child often have to overcome extended family resistance to their desire to use a surrogate, although there are increasing cases of the surrogacy taking place within an extended family framework. At the heart of all this of course is the child. One would hope a blessed, unique individual that while coming into the world in slightly unusual circumstances is still loved and appreciated by a number of different people. Surrogacy flies in the face of hundreds of years of evolution that has seen a woman have a natural bond with the child she carries from before the moment of birth. To go through the pregnancy and then give the child to another person to bring up requires an incredible amount of strength and love on the part of the surrogate. This book celebrates this strength and love and all of the wonderful people who are part of the surrogacy process.