Surrogate Motherhood - Becoming a Surrogate Mother

"Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials."- Meryl Streep

Motherhood has been described in many other ways, which attribute it with bearing a child and loving it to the extent of giving up on her own desires. Some also say that motherhood is like letting your heart walk out for the rest of your life. So if this is motherhood then how does Surrogate Motherhood and what are the reasons that women bear a child for almost a year in their wombs and then give it away to another couple. In this article I will try and analyze these aspects of surrogate motherhood. Let us start from the definition of Surrogate Motherhood.

What is Surrogate Motherhood?

Surrogate Motherhood is to carry a child for the entire period of pregnancy and then give to another couple. This child and the surrogate mother may or may not share a genetic relationship, since the unrelated embryo can also b implanted in her womb. Now the question is are all women who are capable of reproduction become Surrogate mothers. So let us have a look at the qualifications that a Surrogate Mother should have.

What are the requirements to become a Surrogate Mother?

To become a Surrogate Mother the Qualities that a woman should have are as follows:

• The Surrogate should be in a healthy physical condition
• She should be more than eighteen years of age.
• Some agencies require that the surrogate should be a mother but there are others who do not have such demands.
• Surrogate should not be a patient of any sexually transmitted disease.
• She should also be a non-smoker nad should also live in a smoke free environment.
• The individual should be psychologically prepared and should be ready to go through a physical and psychological test.
• It is better if the surrogate as a partner who can act as an emotional anchor and in case the surrogate has a partner he also has to go through physical and psychological tests.
• The most important requirements according to most of the agencies is that the woman should not go through the process only because of financial gains, therefore she has to belong to financially stable family.

So these are the fundamental requirements of becoming a Surrogate Mother.

What is the process of Becoming a Surrogate Mother?

The process of becoming a Surrogate Mother is not very complex. Once you decide that you want to become one you can contact an agency who might do a background check, some physical and psychological tests for you in order to ensure that their clients know that the person carrying their baby comes from a good family and has healthy habits. Moreover to get you a couple who would be like minded about things related to the child can only be searched for if they know the background you come from. Once they have decided on one couple that match the requirements you have, they would arrange foe a meeting of both the parties where you can meet the parents and they can meet you so that the decision-making becomes easier. After the meeting they would call both the parties to know if they like each other. With the assent of both the parties ends the initial formalities of the process.

Now a contract has to be made wherein it is ensured that all the parties get what they expect out of the whole deal. Mostly the contract is made to ensure that the Surrogate mother gets medical expenses, her insurance and payment. So this is all about becoming a Surrogate Mother but in spite of the fact that the answers are all quite to the point and clear, I have several other questions in mind regarding the fact that the deal of a mother renting out her womb and giving her children to a couple after the baby is born completely falsifies the fact that mother understands the child better because she keeps it inside her body for nine months and that is where the innate and inherent love and understanding come from. It means a woman never has any emotions for the child she carries; it is just a biological phenomenon wherein the female partner’s body is capable of accommodating the child, which is why she does it!! There is nothing great or momentous about becoming a mother. Certainly I can understand when the motive is altruism but I thought they said that women become selfish when it comes to their children.