Surrogates, women who carry and deliver babies for other couples, must be well enough to complete a successful pregnancy and give birth to healthy babies. There are the six main health-related requirements for becoming a surrogate mother.
1. Physical Health
Both gynecologic and general physical examinations are essential to determine your ability to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Your doctor will compute your body mass index because obesity increases your chances of having complications in pregnancy. Your doctor will also ask you to provide a complete self- and familial health history.
2. Genetic Health
For surrogates who will be the biological mother of the child they carry, most inherited physical or psychological disorders are prohibited. Any genetic disorder that could prevent a healthy pregnancy or delivery would also be a barrier to a gestational surrogate.
3. Mental Health
Because being pregnant, delivering a baby and giving up a child are emotionally challenging experiences, potential surrogates must undergo a screening to assess their emotional and psychological wellbeing. Furthermore, surrogates often are required to consent to attending counseling sessions should they become necessary.
4. Clean Living
Surrogates must not smoke or use other tobacco products, and they cannot engage in alcohol or illicit drug use. No one living in your home should smoke because even second-hand smoke can harm a developing fetus. Alcoholism or prior drug abuse may also prohibit a woman from becoming a surrogate because of the physical damage already done and the potential for relapse.
5. Sexual Health
Neither you nor your sexual partner can have sexually transmitted diseases, which may harm a developing fetus and cause complications during childbirth. Women may not have sex outside of a monogamous relationship during the pregnancy. Surrogates’ sexual activity is also restricted during the implantation period so that they do not become pregnant with their own baby.
6. Successful Past Pregnancy
Agencies that do require a past pregnancy that led to the birth of a healthy child want to reduce the risk you will develop conditions like preeclampsia or gestational diabetes. If you previously experienced pregnancy- or delivery-related complications, you are at greater risk of experiencing these once again.
Qualifications for becoming a surrogate vary and also include those not related to physical or mental health. However, healthy surrogates are essential to the health of the babies they carry and deliver.
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