Surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another woman, either from her own egg fertilized by the other woman’s partner or from the implantation in her uterus of a fertilized egg from the other woman (egg donor).
Presently in India the ART Bill to regulate Surrogacy is with the Government waiting to be introduced in parliament. It is under consideration and hence we at KIC follow the guidelines issued by Indian Council of Medical Research (I.C.M.R.) and American Society of Reproductive Medicine (A.S.R.M.) in process of recruitment of Surrogate Mother. I.C.M.R. is the Government organization that is entrusted with the responsibility of framing of Laws for regulating various ART Treatments in INDIA.
These guidelines state that Facility providing Surrogacy Treatment should not be directly involved in recruitment of a Surrogate Mother.
Following these guidelines at our clinic, Surrogate Mothers for all our cases are recruited througha N.G.O.
Screening the Surrogate
Once the surrogate has been inducted, she will undergo thorough medical and psychological evaluations.
Psychological Interviews are carried out to determine that Surrogate Mother is mentally healthy and to ensure that she will be able to follow the protocols provided to her in due course of becoming a Surrogate Mother and during her Pregnancy period and later. Careful evaluation is carried out to ensure that the surrogate mother has not been subjected to any pressure or coercion.
Blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases and all communicable diseases are carried out. Variety of Blood-Hormone tests and other pathological and bio chemical tests are performed.
A cervical culture and/or DNA test to screen for infection with Chlamydia, Urea Plasma, Gonococcus, and other infective organisms that might interfere with a successful outcome.
Once the women intending to be a Surrogate Mother has undergone these tests and her Medical, Physical and Psychological Fitness is ascertained then only she is formally inducted into Program.
Note : The same Medical, Physical & Psychological standards are used for evaluating Donors as-well. But depending upon the ethnicity of the Donors there are other tests carried out too. All donors are tested for the presence of a cystic fibrosis (CF) mutation. Donors of African, and Mediterranean descent undergo a hemoglobin electrophoresis as a screen for sickle cell trait and thalassemias. If the donor is of Jewish origin, CF mutation analysis and screening for Tay-Sachs disease, Canavan disease, familial dysautonomia, Gaucher disease, and other genetic diseases is done. Donors who are of French Canadian descent are screened for CF as well as Tay-Sachs disease.