A woman reports that while visiting some friends who had recently given birth to their new daughter in a Manhattan hospital, she couldn’t resist perusing the institutional paperwork addressed to “Dear Mother, Parent, Person Carrying the Child.” Such a salutation represents a new trend where both the meaning and definition of motherhood is being shaped by the rise of reproductive technologies such as surrogacy.
While there is no mandated tracking of how many children are born through surrogacy each year, the Society for Reproductive Medicine estimates that 1,989 children were born through gestational surrogacy in 2012. Most news stories that cover the practice often focus on the gift of life provided by the surrogate to a couple, with the narrative always being one of praise for the surrogate’s altruism and the joy brought to the intended parents….as they should. Surrogacy is definitely a gift of life, surrogate mothers are selfless women who are able to enhance intended parents’ lives and surrogacy agencies, such as Shared Conception, are committed to matching compassionate and competent surrogate mothers with serious intended parents.
The idea of surrogacy is no longer a “novel” idea but an idea that is making footsteps and impact into mainstream society. People, who initially disliked the idea of surrogacy, now embrace it or at least are more tolerant of the notion. There are more candidates vying for surrogate mother roles and even more intended parents trying to build and enhance their families. As we move into 2015, our surrogacy agency, Shared Conception, anticipates guiding and working with surrogates and intended parents to build legacies, one family at a time. Onwards and upwards!
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