Gestational
What is best for you and your family?
Each family situation is unique and different. Each family needs to decide what is best for their family. Things to consider are the emotional complications of a gestational vs surrogate carrier or adoption can have on all parties involved. The legal complications that could arise using a surrogate over a gestational carrier or adoption, the cost of either carrier, or the wait times finding a surrogate over a gestational carrier or being picked by a potential mother for adoption.
The decision to adopt, use a gestational carrier, or use a surrogate depends on many factors that include cost, biology, and timeline of achieving your family.
Below is information regarding all three. Contact the Denis Law Group today to find out more about how to start your family.
What is a Gestational Agreement?
A gestational agreement is a legal contract between the intended parents and a gestational carrier that outlines the rights, obligations, and expectations of all parties involved. A gestational agreement is usually necessary when a woman is unable to get pregnant or give birth without risking harm to herself or the unborn child.
A gestational agreement typically covers the following information:
- Parental rights and custody
- The intended parents have immediate custody of the child after birth
- Medical bills
- The agreement should outline who will pay for medical bills and other insurance obligations
- Financial Considerations
- The agreement should address how the gestational carrier compensation and expenses
- Medical decision making
- The agreement should outline who will make medical decisions during pregnancy.
- Contract
- The agreement should outline how the intended parents and gestational carrier will communicate throughout the process
- Abstaining from sexual activity
- The agreement may include a period during which the gestational carrier agrees to abstain from sexual activity throughout the pregnancy
What is the difference between a surrogate and a gestational carrier?
A surrogate is when a woman shares a genetic link to the child. A gestation carrier is a woman who carries a child for another couple with no genetic connection to the child.
Cost is another big factor. It is more expensive to have a gestational carrier vs a surrogate carrier.
How a Gestational Carrier is Implanted?
For a heterosexual couple, your doctor or fertility specialist will gather your eggs and fertilize them with your partner’s or spouse’s sperm. After the embryo is formed, the gestational carrier will undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) and be implanted. There will be no genetic connection between the gestational carrier and your egg/sperm.
For same-sex couples and single parents, the process is a little different. Female same-sex couples need a sperm donor, and male partners need an egg bank. Single parents may need to either use a sperm donor or egg donation.