Posted on 07/01/2002 12:59:40 PM PDT by Lizavetta
Surrogacy 'leads to better parenting'
First scientific study shows that families who receive the child are more caring and the handover after birth is not a problem
The world's first scientific study to lift the veil on the realities of surrogacy carried out in Britain suggests not only that surrogate mothers have no problem handing over babies, but that the families who receive the child are warmer, happier and more caring than ordinary families.
"It is often assumed that surrogate mothers will have difficulties handing the child over following the birth," said Fiona MacCallum, one of the researchers from City University in London, who will present her preliminary results at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting in Vienna today.
"We found only one instance of the surrogate having slight doubts at this time, with all other mothers reporting no problems. The surrogacy families seem to be characterised by warm relationships and high qualities of parenting."
Hundreds of children have been born to surrogate mothers in Britain in the past two decades. It is estimated that around one surrogate birth takes place every week.
The procedure is still dogged with legal quirks. Until the paperwork is done, the child is still legally the surrogate mother's. More bizarrely, if the surrogate mother is married, her husband is legally the father. British law limits payment to the surrogate of "reasonable expenses", usually a maximum of £10,000.
In some cases the surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with sperm from the intended father, meaning the child is, genetically, half hers; in others, she is implanted with early stage embryos created by conventional IVF treatment using sperm and eggs from the intended parents. There is no genetic connection between surrogate mother and child, but an emotional and physical one.
Ms MacCallum is studying 180 families - 43 with a child by surrogacy, 51 with a child by IVF from donated eggs, and 86 with a naturally conceived child.
Two thirds of the surrogate mothers were strangers to the commissioning couple before the surrogacy agreement was made. The other surrogate mothers were sisters or friends of the intended mother.
Since the child was born, most of the families had kept in touch with the surrogate, and 70% saw her at least once every two months. None of the recipient mothers described conflict or hostility between the two families, and 90% said their relationship with the surrogate was still "very good".
In four aspects of parenting - warmth, emotional involvement, and mothering and fathering qualities - the surrogacy and egg donor families rated higher than natural conception families.
"It should be noted that the natural conception families were all functioning well and were not getting low scores on these measures of parenting - rather the surrogacy and egg donation mothers were getting particularly high scores."
Ms MacCallum, based at City's family and child psychology centre, cautioned that it remained to be seen whether the study's conclusions might alter as time passed. The children in this stage of her research were aged between nine and 12 months.
Elizabeth Stringer, a 38-year-old Northamptonshire chef, has borne five children, but is the mother of only two. Of her three surrogate pregnancies, the first, Thomas, is now four and a half.
The mother for whom Ms Stringer acted as surrogate with Thomas had been trying to have a child, on and off, for 20 years. The mother of the second baby she hosted in her womb had endured 11 miscarriages.
Ms Stringer first became interested in surrogacy when she was 18. A friend could not have children because of illness and Ms Stringer pledged to bear her child. In the end it never happened but after Ms Stringer had two daughters of her own, and knew she did not want any more children, her thoughts turned back to having other people's.
Ms Stringer's most recent pregnancy was for Julia Ewart, an interior designer from Suffolk. Ms Ewart, who had one son, Louis, with her husband Peter, lost her second child before it was born in a road accident. She had to have surgery to remove her uterus.
Working with Cots, the voluntary organisation which brings surrogates and needy families together, the two sides drew up a contract anticipating every potential point of conflict - what kind of diet Ms Stringer would follow during the pregnancy, what would happen if the child was handicapped and so on - and the process began.
Ms Stringer said she never had any problem with surrendering the child.
"It's not giving up, it's giving back," she said. "It's never my child. Biologically, there's no connection and the whole process is geared up towards the handover. It's an unbelievable moment."
The handover took place as soon as the baby, a boy christened Henry, was born, in February.
"It was a real out of body experience to see my baby's head come out of someone else's body like this. It was a bit spooky," said Ms Ewart. "But because I love Elizabeth so much it wasn't a problem."
Or it could be they're just more motivated to parenthood, as their efforts to get a child show. Maybe the same for those who adopt.
This is merely a form of adoption. Most adopted moms love their kids.
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