Gestation surrogacy, or seeking a surrogate mother, is a solution for many people who wish to start a family. In Spain, it is not permitted to start a surrogacy process, but it is possible to do so abroad.
Both men who decide to start a single-parent family and male homosexual couples must resort to a surrogate mother if they wish to become their children’s biological parents. Heterosexual couples also resort to this process if there is a serious female infertility problem; e.g., if the woman has no womb.
In other countries like the USA, Canada, India or Ukraine, surrogacy is controlled by law and is a legal procedure. Spanish citizens who wish to have a child through a surrogate mother must go to these countries to accomplish their wish. After the child has been born and the parents have completed the proceedings for the child to obtain their nationality, they can come to Spain to start their new life.
There are several surrogation options: in gestational surrogacy, the surrogate mother is the person who gestates embryos. Fecundation is done by using the future father’s or a donor’s sperm, and the future mother’s or a donor’s eggs. This is the most common form of surrogacy and that which is preferred by most future parents because the surrogate mother does not provide her own eggs.
There is also traditional surrogacy. In this process, the surrogate mother provides her own eggs and is inseminated with the semen of the future father or a donor. Nowadays, this method is not employed as much because there is a greater emotional link between the pregnant woman and the future baby.
Although the surrogate mother option is a controversial fact for some sectors in society, it is increasingly becoming more acceptable and is no longer taboo. The truth is that in many cases surrogacy is the only alternative for those people whose dream is to being parents.