- MD/CEO, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi
Many people misconstrued surrogacy for baby factories. Some even deliberately seek the assistance of those that run baby factories for fruit of the womb and claim to have their babies through surrogacy. A lot of waiting couples are desperate and ignorant of how surrogacy is done, fall victims. They find themselves in the hands of quacks, running a baby factory but lie to them that they are helping them get babies through surrogacy. Running baby factories is unethical and illegal while the practice of surrogacy is lawful. It is high time many couples out there who are who have issues conceiving and intend seeking surrogacy as a way out get informed about what surrogacy is all about, how it operates, it pros and cons, what to do mitigate the many risks and legal implications attached and why medical experts must be consulted before embarking on it.
Giving a detailed explanation on how surrogacy is done and other information couples must know before going for is medical expert and gynaecologist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, MD/CEO of Nordica Fertility Centre. Below are excerpts from his expert analysis:
What is Surrogacy?
“Surrogacy is an arrangement usually backed by legal agreement whereby a woman agrees to carry a pregnancy for another woman or a couple. There are 2 types of Surrogacy. There is the traditional and there is the gestational surrogacy. The first Gestational Surrogacy was done in 1985. The difference between the two is that in traditional surrogacy, the surrogate has genetic linkage with the baby or babies. In other words, you use her eggs. You can do this either through Intra-ultra-insemination or even through IVF. This is because we are using her eggs. But the gestational surrogacy, she is the carrier. Sometimes it’s not unusual to call them gestational careers. All you are interested in is just using the uterus. The Surrogate has no genetic linkage with the baby or babies. So, it’s either you are the intended couple; the eggs of the woman in that relationship or you are using the donor’s eggs. It is also important to state that Surrogacy agreement can end up in a mess if not well handled. And that’s why the majority of the people who are using Gestational Surrogacy prefer it to Traditional one because it protects intending couples.
Who are the people benefiting from surrogacy?
“Surrogacy is reserved for people who either didn’t have a uterus to carry the baby or the uterus has been damaged or being removed. It’s also meant for some people who are unlucky that they don’t even have a uterus at all. Some women were born without a uterus. And the only way those ones can have babies will be through surrogacy. And for women who have had babies but for an accident at delivery or termination of pregnancy, their uterus has been removed, they would have to do surrogacy. But one thing that is a cause of surrogacy in our environment is fibroid surgery, especially when they have these repeated fibroid surgeries. The fact in Nigeria is that everybody thinks they can do fibroid surgeries; you don’t have to be a gynaecologist. We have so many qualified experienced gynaecologists who have seen one, have assisted one and they are doing one. Sometimes they leave their patience worse. No matter who you are, if you are doing 2nd, 3rd fibroid surgeries, you are likely to have some scars. Especially if the uterus was cut into. So, we can see some women who cannot just but have surrogacy because they did Fibroid Surgery. Then some people, it’s their health condition that will not allow them to carry a pregnancy, heart diseases and so on. Then everybody is afraid that they might not be able to carry the pregnancy. Then also, people who probably because they can’t just carry a baby to term because of other medical conditions.
“What we are saying now is that surrogacy is becoming so abused in the sense that some people who don’t have any health implications, they just want to have surrogacy. They have not even attempted having a child on their own. In other clines, we called that vein surrogacy. Some people will just say I want surrogacy and we have asked why do we want to do this? What do you understand by surrogacy? They say I just know someone can help me carry my pregnancy. I don’t want the problem of pregnancy. But they have forgotten to look at problems that can arise from the process because their doctors are not telling them about this. They are not trying to educate them about the pitfalls of surrogacy. They shy away from that. I think it’s our responsibility to continue to educate the populace to know that surrogacy might not work the way you want it to since you are dealing with a third person especially in an environment that we are. Yes, if we go through the process, sometimes we can mitigate some of the risks. The process of surrogacy, you need to know that. Especially during gestational surrogacy. And that means you have to do IVF to get to the embryo with the sperm and the egg coming together. And then we have to choose a surrogate. This is where the rubber misses the road. Some people want to bring somebody that is well known to them, like their sisters. It’s because they have not thought about it thoroughly. And sometimes, this causes friction in families. If I were to do surrogacy, I don’t think I would use anyone who is very well known to me because there are some emotional things that you will have to deal with. And that’s why agencies now come in. We now have so many agencies in Nigeria saying they are doing surrogacy. Some of them don’t even understand what it is. But if you can have a good surrogacy agency, that is great. Then you need a good lawyer. To mitigate most of the risks of surrogacy, you need a good legal agreement and you need a lawyer who is versatile in this area of practice.
“Fortunately, many Nigerians are now developing those skills and they are handling many cases of surrogacy. So, when you have chosen your surrogate, then the fertility clinic now jumps in. they have to screen the surrogate, her mental state, her health state. They have to screen her to ensure that she doesn’t have an infectious disease in order to protect the baby. And when you are using a donor sperm or a donor egg, the same has to be done. The moment you now have the embryo, the surrogate should be there to receive the embryo. After the transfer, we wait for 2 weeks to be able to know whether she is pregnant or not pregnant.
Who can be a surrogate?
“And that’s also one of the questions we are always trying to answer. So many professionals like the American Society for Reproductive Medicine have deliberated on this and majority of them agreed that surrogates should be between 21 years and 45 years in age. Of course, we have heard and we know that some grandmothers that have had their children through surrogate and there are some mothers that have birthed their children also through surrogate. But the recommendation is that it should be between 21 and 45. And she should not have had more than 5 kids. But she would have had preferably at least 1. And caesarean sessions in this environment, we say not more than 2. And then we can be a surrogate. After we have chosen the surrogate, we can do the transfer. Then we wait for the pregnancy test. Of course, there are so many things that can happen from experience. Sometimes, the process is not that smooth.
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