While there are mixed reviews about whether or not a woman should become a surrogate mother if she has never had a baby of her own before, most surrogacy agencies won’t work with a first-time mother because of the variables involved in the unknown aspects of pregnancy.
There are a number of moving pieces that need to be considered when accepting the responsibility to become a surrogate mother, and the reality is that first-time mothers don’t usually know what to expect during their pregnancies.
While no two pregnancies are the same, some kind of a track record is needed to determine the course of pregnancy and the woman’s ability to carry a baby to term. It seems harsh, especially to the number of women who would be happy to carry a child for someone else, but don’t want children of their own.
Can You Become Pregnant?
While becoming pregnant seems like a natural thing, millions of women cannot become pregnant. For any number of reasons, women who have never been pregnant might not be able to become pregnant at all, and it would dash the hopes of everyone involved in the surrogacy process.
Understanding the Feelings Involved in Pregnancy
First-time mothers can become quite overwhelmed with the amount of emotion that occurs on a daily basis during pregnancy. And while a surrogate might think she is ready to handle the emotions associated with giving birth to a baby and then handing the child to its intended parents, there is no certainty for a first-time mother to know how she will react to that situation. Women who have had children in the past now have a better understanding of what to expect when it comes to their feelings, and they are better equipped to deal with the emotions of birthing and carrying a child for others.
Risks Associated with Pregnancy
Before modern medicine, women died in childbirth on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that still happens in some cases. For a first-time mother, the risks associated with pregnancy can be high, and there are underlying medical conditions or issues that are not yet clear, the surrogacy could put both the surrogate and baby at risk. Surrogacy agencies prefer to work with mothers who have gone through childbirth to get a full history of the complications, issues, and long-term effects related to pregnancy and delivery. What’s more, some women cannot have more than one child, and the risks of this are high enough that giving up your own chance of having children to become a surrogate is not worth the risk in the industry’s eyes.
While it is both noble and wonderful for a woman to want to help a family grow through surrogacy, the lack of information about how a surrogate’s body will react to pregnancy, how the pregnancy might go, and how the surrogate will handle delivery and after birth are too risky to chance.
