Surrogacy

What is surrogacy?

In surrogacy, a woman (the surrogate mother) carries a child for another person or couple (the intended parents or intended parent). For example, because someone cannot become pregnant or cannot carry a pregnancy to term. After birth, the intended parent(s) take care of the child.

Surrogacy is an intensive and complicated process that requires careful preparation and choices. For the intended parents, the surrogate mother and a possible egg donor, but also for those around them. The interests of the child must always come first.

Forms of surrogacy

There are different forms of surrogacy. An important difference is whether the egg comes from the surrogate mother, the intended mother or an egg donor.

If the surrogate mother's egg is used, fertilization (with sperm from the intended father) can be done via (self) insemination. In this case, the surrogate mother is also a genetic parent. After birth, the child goes to the intended parents and the intended parents take care of the child's daily care. This is also called traditional surrogacy.

If an egg from the intended mother or a donated egg is used, it is fertilized in a laboratory with sperm from the intended father. The embryo is placed in the uterus of the surrogate mothers. After birth, the intended parent(s) take care of the child. This is also called IVF or gestational surrogacy. The surrogate mother is not genetically related to the child.

The process of surrogacy

The process of fulfilling a child's wish with the help of a surrogate mother is an intensive process that must be prepared carefully.

It is important that prior to a process, consideration is given to the implications of surrogacy on the child, intended parent(s) and surrogate parents, the possible egg donor and on their environment. For example, for the children of the surrogate mother and egg donor.

There are ethical, psychosocial, medical, legal and financial aspects to the choice of surrogacy. It is important to be well informed about this prior to a pregnancy so that you can make well-considered decisions. You will find information about all the different aspects of surrogacy on this website. In this orientation it can also be useful to include the stories and experiences of other intended parents, surrogates and donors and also think about alternatives such as co-parenting or foster care. 

If a child is born with the help of a surrogate mother, the process is not complete. Surrogate mother is part of your child's history and therefore part of your family. 

Read more

On this website you can read a lot about surrogacy in the Netherlands. Most of our information is in Dutch. 

There are some articles in English on our website. For example:

Onderzoek | Patient management in Dutch IVF Surrogacy Centre

Onderzoek | Psychosocial aspects of gestational surrogacy 

Onderzoek | 10 years surrogacy families

On the website of the Dutch goverment you can find information about the legal aspect of surrogacy in the Netherlands.

https://www.government.nl/topics/surrogate-mothers/surrogacy-legal-aspects