Surrogacy agencies have many requirements for surrogates to go through the surrogacy process. These are put into place to avoid risk and keep everyone’s best interests at heart.
To get more information about why needing to already have a child, you can fill out our online form to get in touch with a surrogacy specialist.
For anyone asking “can I be a surrogate without having a child,” they may not be a likely candidate.
The truth is most agencies will not work with a surrogate who has never been pregnant before and is not raising their own child. There are many risks and reasons why you cannot become a surrogate without having a child yourself.
Physical Challenges
Pregnancy has a plethora of physical challenges from morning sickness to fatigue. And you don’t know how you will react to any part of pregnancy until you go through it. On top of the typical physical side effects of pregnancy, you can also encounter some more serious complications. These may include preeclampsia, placental complications, congenital disorders and more.
Many of these issues you won’t be able to know the likeliness of until you go through pregnancy. Even if you are a healthy individual, you could still face physical challenges during pregnancy. To be a surrogate without having child could put you and the child in unnecessary risk.
Emotional Challenges
The emotional challenges of becoming a surrogate without having a child are just as harmful as the physical challenges. There are many emotions that you go through during pregnancy and post-partum, some of which you won’t understand until you go through them.
If you were to go through the surrogacy process as a first pregnancy or without having a child of your own, you may be more likely to have complicated emotions that could result in anxiety or depression. Without going through pregnancy previously, you also won’t know how post-partum depression and anxiety may affect you.
Risk for Intended Parents
If you are inexperienced with pregnancy, it won’t just affect you. It will also affect the intended parents. The intended parents who have chosen to go through surrogacy have often gone through every other route to become parents, not to mention spent thousands of dollars already.
Having a child through surrogacy is sometimes their last resort, especially if they have a limited amount of embryos. Surrogacy is too important to gamble their chances of becoming parents on a surrogate who hasn’t been pregnant before.
Don’t Give Up on Surrogacy
Just because you cannot become a surrogate without having a child right now does not mean you won’t be able to in the future. You could still become a surrogate once you’ve gone through pregnancy and have your own child. You can also go through alternative routes to help others pursue their family goals such as egg donation.
Doing more research on the surrogacy process can also help you better understand what is expected of our surrogates and how intended parents feel going through the process as well.
If you are interested in learning more about the surrogacy process, you can contact our team of surrogacy specialists at 1-800-875-2229 (BABY).