Surrogate Mothers have no Misgivings about Handing Over
Apr 27, 2005 - 10:57:00 PM
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"Overall, surrogacy appears to be a positive experience for surrogate mothers. Women who decide to embark upon surrogacy often have completed a family of their own and feel they wish to help a couple who would not otherwise be able to become parents. Surrogate mothers often feel a positive sense of self worth, reporting, for example, that seeing their commissioning couples' faces once the child is born makes the whole process worthwhile."
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By European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology,
[RxPG] Surrogate mothers do not suffer major emotional problems during or after their pregnancy, or when they hand over the baby to the commissioning parents.
The 2003 results from a long-running study into surrogacy by researchers from City University, UK, led by Professor Susan Golombok, found that, contrary to anecdotal reports in the media, none of the 34 surrogate mothers interviewed for the study reported any misgivings about handing over the baby. Any emotional problems that the women did experience after the birth appeared to lessen with time. The majority of surrogate mothers enjoyed good relations with their commissioning couples and did not suffer adverse reactions from their own friends and family.
In the largest and most representative study of surrogate mothers so far, the researchers interviewed 34 women approximately one year after they had given birth. The women gave information on their reasons for deciding to become a surrogate, the reaction of others to this decision, their relationships with the commissioning couple before and during the pregnancy, their experiences of handing over the baby, and how they felt towards the child.
Five of the women had been surrogate mothers more than once. Seven were "known" surrogate mothers (i.e. they were doing it for a sister, friend or child), and 27 were previously unknown to the commissioning couple.
The majority of the women (31 or 91%) said their main reason for being a surrogate was "to help a childless couple". Five (15%) gave "enjoyment of pregnancy" as a reason, two (6%) said they were doing it for "self-fulfilment" and only one said she was doing it for money[1].
Before the pregnancy all the mothers said they had a good relationship with the commissioning couple. At the start of the pregnancy, one woman reported "major conflict or hostility" with the commissioning couple, and one woman reported "dissatisfaction or coldness" with the commissioning father. All the other women had no problems. During the last few months of pregnancy none of the women reported having any major conflict or hostility with the commissioning parents; 33 of them said they had a harmonious relationship with the commissioning mother and 32 said the same of their relationship with the father.
The decision about when to hand over the baby was the result of mutual agreement in 31 of the 34 cases (91%). In three cases the surrogate mother decided when to hand over the child. Ms Vasanti Jadva, the study's lead researcher from the Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University, said: "All of the women were happy with the decision reached about when to hand over the baby and none of the women experienced any doubts or difficulties whilst handing over the baby. One woman said that she never viewed it as handing over the child; instead she considered she was handing back the child."
After hand-over, 11 (32%) of the women experienced mild difficulties in the following weeks and one experienced moderate difficulties. The rest had no difficulties. A few months later 29 of the women were experiencing no difficulties, and after a year only two were reporting mild difficulties, with 32 reporting none.
The amount of contact between the surrogate mothers, the commissioning parents and the child following the birth varied greatly. Eleven of the women (32%) had seen both the mother and the child at least once a month, seven (21%) had not seen the commissioning mother or father at all and eight (24%) had not seen the child. The rest has seen the parents and/or the child between once a month and once in the past year. However 32 (94%) of the surrogate mothers said they were happy with the level of contact, and only two (6%) said that the level of contact was not enough.
Ms Jadva said: "Twenty of the women said they felt no special bond with the child, and 14 said they did. Surrogate mothers who already knew the commissioning couple were more likely to feel there was a special bond with the child. None of the women reported feeling that the child was like their own."
Although around half of the women initially encountered ambivalence from friends and family to their surrogate pregnancy, the majority reported that the reactions of those around them had become more positive by the time of the interview a year later.
Prof Golombok, director of the Centre, said: "This investigation suggests that surrogacy has been a positive experience for those surrogate mothers we interviewed, and it does not support many of the claims commonly made about surrogacy. For example, none of the women had any doubts about their decision to hand over the child and most of them did not have major problems with the commissioning parents. Although some women experienced psychological difficulties initially after the handover, these were not severe and tended to be short lived, dissipating with time. One year on, only two women reported feeling occasionally upset. Thus there was no evidence of difficulties with respect to those aspects of surrogacy that have been the greatest cause for concern."
Ms Jadva concluded: "Overall, surrogacy appears to be a positive experience for surrogate mothers. Women who decide to embark upon surrogacy often have completed a family of their own and feel they wish to help a couple who would not otherwise be able to become parents. Surrogate mothers often feel a positive sense of self worth, reporting, for example, that seeing their commissioning couples' faces once the child is born makes the whole process worthwhile."
Publication:
European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology Annula Conference, 2003
On the web:
www.eshre.com 
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Additional information about the news article
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Abstract no: O-243 (Wednesday, 10.45hrs CET, Londres room)
Notes
[1] Some women gave multiple reasons for their decision to become a surrogate which is why the numbers add up to more than 34.
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