Surrogacy is such a beautiful gift for hopeful families.
We hope National Infertility Awareness Week will increase our society's understanding of the barriers many Canadians face in trying to build their family - and how Assisted Reproductive Technologies can help remove these barriers.
(PRWEB) May 29, 2014
There are two types of surrogacy arrangements in Canada; Gestational and Traditional.
A traditional surrogate arrangement is rare in Canada and equates to less than five percent of all Canadian surrogacy arrangements. A traditional surrogacy arrangement involves a woman who donates her own egg(s) and then acts as the surrogate (or, carries the pregnancy). The surrogate's eggs are fertilized through artificial insemination with the sperm from the intended father (or from a sperm donor).
The child that results would then be biologically related to the traditional surrogate as her own egg is used in the process. This arrangement may result in some sensitive legal and social issues. As a result, the traditional surrogacy arrangement is typically advised against by the lawyers and social workers involved.
A gestational surrogate (also commonly referred to as a gestational carrier), on the other hand, is not genetically related to the child that she carries. Gestational carriers become pregnant through in vitro fertilization, by an embryo or embryos created from the egg and the sperm of the intended parents or from a third party donor egg and/or third party donor sperm selected by the intended parents.
The gestational surrogacy arrangement is a more common type of surrogacy as it eliminates any legal claim by the surrogate and significantly reduces the social attachment the gestational carrier may have with the resulting child.
When CFC's staff are speaking to those who are not familiar with the details of surrogacy, many are often surprised to learn that typical intended parents are quite “regular folk” as the headlines coming from Hollywood suggest that surrogacy is a privilege and only an option to benefit the rich and famous. In other words, those that are “too posh to push”. In fact surrogacy can be an option to just about all intended parents that have difficulty or simply are unable to have children the traditional way.
More specifically, the vast majority of CFCs clients are from the unfortunate 1 in 6 Canadians that have issues with the traditional means of having children. These intended parents select surrogacy not by choice but as a quality option to realize a family.
The one in six Canadians who are unable to carry for various reasons, including being born without a uterus, cancer survivors, unexplained infertility, miscellaneous medical reasons (such as diabetes) that make carrying a child either risky to either the mother’s or the child’s health. These are regular people, with regular lives, and regular jobs. Many of CFCs clients have changed their lifestyles, reached out to family and friends, or taken loans to fund their surrogacy and realize their dreams of having children.
The other population using CFCs services are those in same sex partnerships or single gay males. These individuals want to become parents and CFC are more than happy to help them. These intended parents often encounter issues that straight couples do not face - judgement by a society that is only now accepting the concept that “Two Men and a Baby” is not another bad Hollywood movie from the 1980’s or hurdles set out by some fertility clinics that require sperm quarantines (as such sperm contributions may be classified as “high risk”).
Canadian Fertility Consultants are thrilled to provide the ability of having children to all of our clients whether medically compromised, gay, straight, or single. We believe in the human right to have children (and become quality parents) and support all clients regardless of sexual orientation.
"We hope National Infertility Awareness Week will increase our society's understanding of the barriers many Canadians face in trying to build their family - and how Assisted Reproductive Technologies can help remove these barriers."
Please contact us by viewing our website http://www.fertilityconsultants.ca or calling our office at 613 439 8701.