Physical and Psychological Effect of Surrogacy

A surrogacy arrangement increases the risk of stillbirth and the likelihood that the child will have a low birth weight. This is one of the physical effects seen in a child born via surrogacy and makes intended parents worry about the health of surrogate babies. A woman’s risk of developing hypertension and pre-eclampsia increases threefold when she carries a child conceived from a different egg than her own—a traditional gestational surrogate arrangement. Egg donors have openly discussed having conditions like infertility, blood clots, kidney disease, early menopause, and cancer. However, there is a dearth of information and research on the short- and long-term health effects of egg donation, making true informed consent impossible. Surrogacy is undoubtedly a viable option for both immediate and long-term outcomes, despite the fact that scientists are still unsure of the extent of these health considerations.

Given that maternal stress in general and unfavourable prenatal environments are known to have an impact on the development of the fetus and could cause negative physical effects on children. This additional maternal stress on top of the typical stresses of non-surrogate pregnancies is cause for concern. The risks to the future wellbeing of surrogate children should not be disregarded by lawmakers considering whether to legalize surrogacy, given what is known about weaker emotional maternal-fetal bonds, additional stresses encountered in surrogacy, and potential physical effects and health of the surrogate baby.

The newborn may experience trauma if it is taken away from the surrogate, who serves as both the genetic and sometimes the gestational mother. At birth, newborns are given to intended parents. The intended parents take over from the surrogate mothers, who were their primary caregivers during the prenatal stage. The physical and psychological effects of a child being taken away from its surrogate mother have not yet been investigated. Although the specifics of fetal memory’s operation are not fully understood, foetuses do have some memory. However, it is known that the loss or obstruction of the child’s ability to form early attachments as a result of the replacement of primary caregivers during the early postpartum phase is harmful and could have psychological effects to the child’s wellbeing. It is a worrying question that needs more investigation as to whether separation from primary caregivers during the prenatal stage results in a similar loss.

Of course, similar losses also happen in other situations, like when a newborn’s mother passes away. We consider those situations unfortunate, if not tragic. So how is it fair to subject surrogate children to such losses? Surrogacy agreements’ main goal is to keep the children apart from their gestational mothers. A child born to a surrogate mother is intentionally cut off from the mother who carried him, whose own genetic make-up, environment, and behavioural choices affected how the child’s genes were expressed prior to birth so there could be some psychological and emotional effects of surrogacy.