Surrogacy

I was just doing my 'on this day' report in the new natter forum and it is about the first surrogate case of Kim Cotton.
This is how we stand no in this country:

Surrogacy is legal in the UK, but surrogate mothers cannot be paid. They can accept only "reasonable expenses" for costs incurred during the pregnancy.
Kim Cotton, the mother in the famous 1985 case, went on to set up COTS (Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy) in 1988, which gives help and advice to surrogates and childless couples in the UK.

What are your views on surrogacy? Could you be a surrogate mother or consider using one?

i could only be a surrogate for family as that way i wouldnt feel like i was having a baby for someone i didnt know and i would still see baby all the time.

I could never be a surrogate mother, i could never give up a child i have carried for 9 months, even if i could still see that child. I would only consider helping an infertile couple by egg donation.
I think if i couldnt have children, and all fertility treatment hadnt worked i would rather adopt a child.
I think its great that some women can do that for others, but i know i couldnt.

An old friend of mine has 6 children and as she is so obsessed with having babieas and being pregnant she said she is considering being a surrogate, and getting some cash out of it. It seems really wrong to do it for money in my opinion.

I dont think i could do it, for family or strangers. i couldnt carry a baby for 9 months then give it to somebody else xx

My godparents cant have children as my godmother's womb cant attach the eggs. I would surrogate for them if they were to ask me. I would do it for someone who i know and love, but i couldnt do it for a complete stranger.

If my mom wanted another child i would surrogate for her too.

I know what its like to think that you will never be able to have children as thats what my doctor had told me a year before i got pregnant. (Hence why my baby was unplanned) and i understand that if you are in that position its really horrible. I resented every child i met and every mother i saw, and every month when i didnt have a period i would cry and become a nightmare towards those around me cause i felt like half a person. But i was one of the lucky very small few who still managed to get pregnant... (and to this day i dont know how, cause i hadnt had a period fo over 2 years)

so thats why i would do it.

I could do it for a close family member but thats all.

I like to think that I'd be able to be a surrogate for someone although I think I'd prefer to do it for a stranger than someone I know as I couldnt handle seeing someone else raising my child, however if it was someone elses egg that had been implanted into me then that would be different as the child wouldnt be mine genetically so wouldnt be as protective of the child.

I also like the idea of being an egg donor to help childless couples but my partner wont allow me to do it at the moment, however I do hope to change his mind

I would defineatly consider being a surrogate for family, but couldn't be a surrogate to a family I hardly knew.Maybe in the future when my own family is complete, I may consider donating my eggs.

i could do it deffinately for family as long as i knew id finished my family not sure if i could do it for a stranger. i would deffinately do egg donation aswell i took a phone number for it from my gp surgery then found out i was pregnant

i would surrogate, i think it would be such a special gift for someone , especially if they had been trying for years with without any luck, plus i love being pregnant its the sleepless nights etc that get me, not that id change my Taylor for anything but i could be doing with a break lol. (any takers?) hehe

I like the idea of it. Its such a selfless act to do for someone!

Yes, I would do it and have considered it but I wouldnt be able to use my eggs. I would be able to act as a "host womb" so to speak.

Im sorry but I justy couldnt donate my eggs. I would forever be wondering what kids I have out there, did they look like me etc etc.

My huband cant even fathom the idea of adopting. Personally, i would love to adopt a child. If I could make a difference to one child that would be a start!

My husband says that a child is a sacred thing between two people who love each other. A child is a result of there love for one another. He is very honest and admits that he couldnt adopt because he wouldnt be able to love that child like his own.

Sorry I went off topic there completely!!!

i couldnt be a surrogate mother, after 9 months of carryin a baby around, that i have made a connection with. It would break my heart, i know it would.

xx

I have an aunty that can't have children. She has adopted two from when they were babies and they are such lovely children. They are truly my cousins and they have never been treated differently, except possibly, to give them even more love - if that's possible. The reason I've chosen to post this here is because one of them is not strictly speaking "adopted" (she is, but she isn't). She is a surrogate child created using my uncle's sperm. Almost no one in my family knows this because of the stigma that can be attached but also because they don't want to have the children treated differently. The surrogate child is one of 8. Some of them are still with the surrogate, some were adopted and some are surrogates. I think it is so wonderful that someone was able to give them this gift, and would love to think that I had the strength to give it too, if someone really needed me.

Lx

ps, she is adopted because to give my aunt equal parental rights with my uncle, I believe that she had to be adopted by both parents. I think that's how the law stands in Scotland anyway. This applies if you want to share equal rights with a step parent of any sort. So your adoptive mother/father can also be your natural mother/father. Weird.

Although I agree to be a surrogate mother you would be a very selfless person - I could never do it.

I love babies and being a mother - I would not be able to carry a child around in my womb for 9 months and hand it over to someone else - stranger or family, it would break my heart. Even if it wasn't my egg, I wouldn't feel like it.

If I coudn't have children I wolud have adopted, and would still very much like to in the future when I have finished creating my own family.

I would definitely do it, especially if I liked pregnancy. If i couldn't have kids, i would hope there would be someone out there who be a surrogate mother. I think you should be entitled to be paid for it though, in a way, you're being employed as an incubator for 9 months, so i don't see why, if both parties agree, that you can't be paid for it.