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Wiadomosci Lekarskie (Warsaw, Poland :... 2018Introduction: Today, the use of assisted reproductive technologies (including surrogacy) is an effective method of guaranteeing realization of person's right on... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
Introduction: Today, the use of assisted reproductive technologies (including surrogacy) is an effective method of guaranteeing realization of person's right on maternity or paternity. Through therapeutic efficiency reproductive means have become incredibly popular among population. However, the lack of certain legal relations in the sphere of surrogacy (both at the international level and the national one) leads to the confusion in the theory and practice. The aim: In this article, the author has set himself the following aims: a) to determine the state of legal regulation of surrogate maternity at national and international levels; b) to focus on problematic moments in legal regulation of surrogacy, which cause such phenomena as medical tourism and human trafficking; c) to investigate the regimes of legal regulation of surrogacy in the countries of the world.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Materials and methods: The methodological framework of the research consists of general scientific and special methods. The dialectical method is used to identify the term surrogacy and its meaning; the method of summarization is applied to the case laws (judgements of European Court of Human Rights and other high legislative bodies of foreign countries). The statistical method is applied to statistical data; the formal method is used for analysing the experience of such foreign countries as the USA (state Illinois, Nevada, California), Sweden, the Netherlands, India, Great Britain. Lastly, the method of comparison is applied to determine the similarities or differences between domestic and foreign legislation.
RESULTS
Review: There are three regimes of surrogacy in the world which contradict one another (altruistic, permitting and prohibiting). The difference between legal regulations of surrogacy contributes expansion of such a phenomenon as medical tourism.
CONCLUSION
Conclusions: Owing to absence of unified principles and standards on international level in the sphere of surrogacy, subjects of such legal relations are absolutely unprotected. Such phenomena as medical tourism, human trafficking and commercial exploitation of surrogate mothers are extending.
Topics: Female; Humans; Medical Tourism; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 30176642
DOI: No ID Found -
South Dakota Medicine : the Journal of... Feb 2023Gestational surrogacy provides patients with the ability to reproduce in the wake of medical contraindications to pregnancy or an inability to become pregnant. Outcomes...
Gestational surrogacy provides patients with the ability to reproduce in the wake of medical contraindications to pregnancy or an inability to become pregnant. Outcomes of gestational surrogacy are overall positive and are quite similar to those of other assisted reproductive technologies. Gestational surrogacy presents several ethical considerations, including gestational carrier autonomy, procreative liberty, access to care, and cross-border surrogacy. Additionally, its legalities differ between states. Gestational surrogacy continues to be a topic that is worthy of consideration, legislation, and discussion.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 36898073
DOI: No ID Found -
American Journal of Obstetrics and... Sep 2021Gestational surrogacy in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, but to date, only a few states explicitly permit compensated gestational surrogacy. Current legal... (Review)
Review
Gestational surrogacy in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, but to date, only a few states explicitly permit compensated gestational surrogacy. Current legal prohibitions are often influenced by outdated and stereotyped understandings of surrogacy. It is increasingly important to understand the current literature about the medical and mental health impacts of surrogacy and how state legislatures have addressed compensated gestational surrogacy in recent years. Based on this review, we found no evidence of substantial adverse medical or psychological outcomes among women who are gestational carriers or among the children they give birth to. The literature suggests that gestational surrogacy is a safe and increasingly popular option for families as long as rigorous screening and medical, psychological, and social supports are equitably provided. As states move to responsibly legalize and regulate gestational surrogacy, there is a continued need for further longitudinal studies on the health and psychological outcomes of gestational surrogacy.
Topics: Female; Humans; Parent-Child Relations; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome; Pregnancy, Multiple; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 33839094
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2021.04.213 -
Gynecologie, Obstetrique, Fertilite &... Jun 2024
Topics: Humans; France; Surrogate Mothers; Female; Pregnancy; Altruism
PubMed: 38340981
DOI: 10.1016/j.gofs.2024.02.001 -
MCN. the American Journal of Maternal... 2015Infertility affects more than 7 million American couples. As traditional treatments fail and the costs of hiring a surrogate increase in the United States, transnational... (Review)
Review
Infertility affects more than 7 million American couples. As traditional treatments fail and the costs of hiring a surrogate increase in the United States, transnational commercial surrogacy becomes a feasible alternative for many couples. Infertile couples may opt for this choice after reading enticing Internet advertisements of global medical tourism offering "special deals" on commercial surrogacy. This is particularly true in India where couples from the United States can purchase transnational surrogacy for less than one-half or even one-third of the costs in the United States, including the cost of travel. The majority of surrogate mothers in India come from impoverished, poorly educated rural areas of India. Commercial surrogacy offers the lure of earning the equivalent of 5 years of family income. This multidisciplinary review of the literature suggests that the issue of commercial surrogacy is complex and influenced by a number of factors including expensive infertility costs, ease of global travel, and the financial vulnerability of Indian commercial surrogate mothers and their families. Questions are being raised about decision making by the surrogate mother particularly as influenced by gender inequities, power differentials, and inadequate legal protection for the surrogate mother. More research is needed to understand commercial surrogacy, especially research inclusive of the viewpoints of the Indian mothers and their families involved in these transactions.
Topics: Commerce; Female; Humans; India; Maternal-Child Health Services; Pregnancy; Surrogate Mothers; Vulnerable Populations
PubMed: 26110574
DOI: 10.1097/NMC.0000000000000163 -
Fertility and Sterility May 2020Surrogacy raises a number of concerns about the psychological adjustment of the surrogate, the parents, and the child. Despite surrogacy becoming more common, research... (Review)
Review
Surrogacy raises a number of concerns about the psychological adjustment of the surrogate, the parents, and the child. Despite surrogacy becoming more common, research into the postdelivery psychological adjustment of the individuals involved has lagged far behind. This review examines research on the psychological adjustment of surrogates and their children. It then presents findings from studies assessing parents' psychological health and parent-child relationships, and children's adjustment within families formed through surrogacy. Finally, it examines how children born through surrogacy feel about their birth and toward their surrogate. Overall, studies have shown good psychological outcomes for surrogates, parents, and children, but research is still very limited, particularly in relation to the geographical location of the research, the ages of the children studied, and the lack of longitudinal projects. Different forms of surrogacy now exist under the umbrella term of "surrogacy." There is now greater diversity in terms of who is using surrogacy, their motivations for using it, whose gametes are used for the pregnancy, and how a surrogacy arrangement is managed. There is therefore a need for future studies to examine the consequences of these different forms of surrogacy on the postdelivery psychological health of surrogates, surrogacy parents, and their children.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Fathers; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Live Birth; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Pregnancy; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 32312560
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.03.010 -
Biomedical Papers of the Medical... Jun 2019Gestational surrogacy, is a treatment option for women with certain clearly defined medical problems, usually an absent uterus, to help them have their own genetic...
BACKGROUND
Gestational surrogacy, is a treatment option for women with certain clearly defined medical problems, usually an absent uterus, to help them have their own genetic children. The aim of our study was to review, evaluate and share our experience and outcomes over the last 13 years of the largest surrogacy program in the Czech republic.
METHODS
A total of 75 intended mothers and 82 surrogate mothers participated in this study. A retrospective cohort study was performed. Anonymized data were collected on 130 cycles of gestational surrogate (2004-2017) directly from the Clinic database.
RESULTS
We performed 130 in vitro fertilization cycles with gestational surrogacy which involved 73 fresh embryo transfers and 57 frozen embryo transfers. We achieved 57 (43.9%) pregnancies and 42 (32.3%) live births. The rate of multiple pregnancies was only 2.3 %. The most common indication for using was an absent or damaged uterus (65%), followed by medical conditions precluding pregnancy (23%) and repeated in vitro fertilization cycles or pregnancy failure (12%).
CONCLUSION
In the 14 years of our experience, we have shown that treatment of young women with specific indications for gestational surrogacy is beneficial, successful and relatively free of complications. However, it is imperative to follow the medical indications for this treatment and specialist recommendations.
Topics: 46, XX Disorders of Sex Development; Abortion, Spontaneous; Adult; Chronic Disease; Congenital Abnormalities; Czech Republic; Embryo Transfer; Female; Fertilization in Vitro; Humans; Hysterectomy; Live Birth; Mullerian Ducts; Organ Transplantation; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Rate; Pregnancy, Multiple; Retrospective Studies; Single Embryo Transfer; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 30238935
DOI: 10.5507/bp.2018.040 -
BioMed Research International 2018Surrogacy is an assisted reproduction-based approach in which the intended parents assign the gestation and birth to another woman called the surrogate mother. The... (Review)
Review
Surrogacy is an assisted reproduction-based approach in which the intended parents assign the gestation and birth to another woman called the surrogate mother. The drivers of surrogacy refer largely to infertility, medical conditions, same-sex couples' parenting, and cases of diversity regarding sexual identity and orientation. Surrogacy consists of a valid option for a variety of conditions or circumstances ranging from medical to social reasons. However, surrogacy may be associated with risks during the preimplantation, prenatal, and neonatal period. It became obvious during the exhaustive literature research that data on surrogacy and its association with factors specific to the IVF practice and the options available were not fully represented. Could it be that surrogacy management adds another level of complexity to the process from the ovarian stimulation, the subsequent IVF cycle, and the techniques employed within the IVF and the Genetic Laboratory to the fetal, perinatal, and neonatal period? This work emphasizes the risks associated with surrogacy with respect to the preimplantation embryo, the fetus, and the infant. Moreover, it further calls for larger studies reporting on surrogacy and comparing the surrogate management to that of the routine IVF patient in order to avoid suboptimal management of a surrogate cycle. This is of particular importance in light of the fact that the surrogate cycle may include not only the surrogate but also the egg donor, sperm donor, and the commissioning couple or single person.
Topics: Female; Humans; Infant; Infertility; Parturition; Pregnancy; Prenatal Care; Risk; Surrogate Mothers
PubMed: 30112409
DOI: 10.1155/2018/6287507 -
Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica... Sep 2018The aim of this study was to investigate attitudes and opinions towards surrogacy among physicians working within obstetrics and reproductive medicine in Sweden. (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study was to investigate attitudes and opinions towards surrogacy among physicians working within obstetrics and reproductive medicine in Sweden.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Physicians working within medically assisted reproduction (MAR), antenatal care and obstetrics were invited to participate in a cross-sectional nationwide survey study. The study-specific questionnaire measured attitudes and experiences in three domains: attitudes towards surrogacy, assessment of prospective surrogate mothers, and antenatal and obstetric care for surrogate mothers.
RESULTS
Of the 103 physicians who participated (response rate 74%), 63% were positive or neutral towards altruistic surrogacy being introduced in Sweden. However, only 28% thought that it should be publicly financed. Physicians working at fertility clinics were more positive towards legalization as well as public financing of surrogacy compared than were those working within antenatal and delivery care. The majority of the physicians agreed that surrogacy involves the risk of exploitation of women's bodies (60%) and that there is a risk that the commissioning couple might pay the surrogate mother "under the table" (82%). They also expressed concerns about potential surrogate mothers not being able to understand fully the risks of entering pregnancy on behalf of someone else.
CONCLUSION
There is a relatively strong support among physicians working within obstetrics and reproductive medicine for the introduction of surrogacy in Sweden. However, the physicians expressed concerns about the surrogate mothers' health as well as the risk of coercion. Further discussions about legalization of surrogacy should include views from individuals within a wide field of different medical professions and laymen.
Topics: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Physicians; Pregnancy; Reproductive Medicine; Surrogate Mothers; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden
PubMed: 29512820
DOI: 10.1111/aogs.13342 -
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine Sep 2022: This article explores the social media discourse on transnational surrogacy and the issue of surrogacy more broadly considering recent news about the Chinese celebrity...
: This article explores the social media discourse on transnational surrogacy and the issue of surrogacy more broadly considering recent news about the Chinese celebrity Zheng Shuang, which revealed that she had hired a surrogate mother in the United States and had later abandoned the surrogate babies. It aims to provide insight on how Chinese citizenry uses social media to express opinions on ethical and legal issues concerning surrogacy. : We conducted a content analysis of microblogs from the social media platform Weibo posted within a month after the event was reported on January 17, 2021. The entire data set included 37,895 posts, which were analyzed for topic exploration using word frequency and keyword co-occurrence techniques, and a smaller sample of 1,000 posts was selected for an in-depth content analysis. : We established that the words "Zheng Shuang," "surrogacy," "babies," "abandoning babies," and "Zhang Heng" were most frequently used, with "law," "ethics," "justification," "legality," and "illegal" sharing high connections with these keywords. The qualitative content analysis further established that 399 microblogs (39.9%) expressed value judgements towards Zheng Shuang's surrogacy, and 61.9% (n=247) opposed her surrogacy, while only 7.0% (n=28) were supportive. The major reason (n=72) against the celebrity's surrogacy was that it was unfair and risky to surrogate children in this case. One hundred twenty-eight posts made value judgements towards surrogacy in principle, with 115 opposing surrogacy, and only two supportive posts. We also established that users with legal background had very limited presence in surrogacy discussions on Weibo, while users from healthcare professions did not engage at all in the social media debate. : Opposition to surrogacy in Chinese social media discourse is primarily based on ethical and moral objections. The protection of surrogate children and surrogate women's rights was the major concerns expressed by social media users, suggesting that this issue would likely be at the center of a future public debate regarding the regulation of surrogacy. We found the lack of healthcare professionals' perspectives in social media discussions on Zheng's Surrogacy disconcerting and suggest their inclusion in public deliberations to ensure that the public is better educated, and substantive concerns are properly addressed.
Topics: Child; China; Female; Humans; Social Media
PubMed: 36187413
DOI: No ID Found