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Latest Surrogacy News
Surrogacy is 'positive
experience' for mothers
By David Derbyshire July 3, 2003
Telegraph
Surrogate
mothers do not suffer major emotional problems when
handing over babies they have carried for someone else,
a British study has found.
Prof
Susan Golombok, an expert in surrogacy at City
University, London, found that none of the 34 surrogate
mothers interviewed for her research had misgivings
about handing over the baby.
Any
emotional problems experienced in the weeks after the
birth appeared to lessen with time, she said. Most
surrogate mothers were still in regular contact with the
baby and its new parents a year after the birth.
About 40
babies are born to surrogate mothers in Britain every
year.
"This
investigation suggests that surrogacy has been a
positive experience for those surrogate mothers we
interviewed, and it does not support many of the claims
commonly made about surrogacy," Prof Golombok said.
None of
the women had any doubts about their decision to hand
over the child and most of them did not have major
problems with the commissioning parents.
A third
of the women were upset in the weeks after the birth,
but only two reported feeling occasionally upset a year
later.
Although
payments to surrogate mothers are illegal in Britain,
expenses can be paid. One of the women said money was
the main motive, but the rest said they became surrogate
mothers because they enjoyed pregnancy or wanted to help
other women.
Vasanti
Jadva, the study's lead researcher, also from City
University, said: "Overall, surrogacy appears to be a
positive experience for surrogate mothers. Women who
decide to embark upon surrogacy often have completed a
family of their own and feel they wish to help a couple
who would not otherwise be able to become parents.
Surrogate mothers often feel a positive sense of self
worth."
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