Surrogacy Basics
In recent decades, a growing number of individuals and couples have turned to surrogacy as a successful way to bring a child into their lives. What has attracted many people to this method of family building is the opportunity it offers for at least one of the intended parents to have a biological relationship to the child. For example, through traditional surrogacy, a gay father can donate his sperm and, thereby, have a genetic relationship to the child born of the surrogate mother. Through what is called gestational surrogacy, a lesbian couple may share a physical relationship to its child by having one mother donate the egg and the other carry it to term.
In traditional surrogacy, a surrogate mother is artificially inseminated, either by the intended father or an anonymous donor, and carries the baby to term. The child is thereby genetically related to both the surrogate mother, who provides the egg, and the intended father or anonymous donor.
In gestational surrogacy, an egg is removed from the intended mother and fertilized with the sperm of the intended father or anonymous donor. The fertilized egg, or zygote, is then implanted in a surrogate mother who carries the baby to term. The child is thereby genetically related to the woman who donated the egg and the intended father or sperm donor. Some lesbian couples find this attractive because it permits one member of the couple to contribute her egg and the other to carry it.