Surrogacy Terms Every Intended Parent Should Know

The surrogacy process is filled with lots of terms that may be unfamiliar terminology. Here’s a list of words and phrases that every intended parent should know.

• Altruistic Surrogacy: A type of surrogacy during which the surrogate volunteers to carry a child for intended parents, and receives no compensation. Also sometimes known as “compassionate surrogacy.”
• Anonymous Egg Donor: A situation where intended parents, and/or any resulting child born through a surrogacy process, are unaware of the identity of an egg donor.
• Artificial Insemination: The medical procedure during which sperm from the intended biological father is inserted into a woman’s cervix, fallopian tubes, or uterus.
• Contract: Known as a “surrogacy contract” or “carrier contract,” this is a legal agreement contract between the intended parents and a surrogate, which will be created through terms negotiated by lawyers. It’s important to research the surrogacy laws in your state as contracts are always legal or enforceable in a court of law.
• Compensated Surrogacy: Also sometimes known as “commercial surrogacy,” this is a type of surrogacy during which a surrogate is compensated for carrying a child for intended parents. Typically, the terms of a compensated surrogacy are negotiated in a contract. Compensated surrogacy is not legal or enforceable everywhere, so it’s important to research the laws in your state prior to entering into a contract.
• Egg Donor: A woman who donates her eggs to intended parents for use in an IVF procedure.
• Egg Retrieval: A medical procedure during which eggs are removed from the egg donor for fertilization.
• Embryo: The resulting organism after a female egg is fertilized by male sperm.
• Embryo Transfer: The process of transferring a fertilized embryo into your surrogate’s uterus.
• Fertilization: The process by which sperm from an intended father fertilizes an egg to produce an embryo.
• Fertility Clinics: A medical clinics where medical procedures associated with the surrogacy process are performed.
• Frozen Embryo: A process that allows fertilized eggs to be frozen or “cryopreserved” for use in later embryo transfers.
• Gestational Surrogacy: In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate carries an embryo created with eggs from a donor that are not her own for intended parents. Therefore, she is not genetically related to the baby. This is contrasted with traditional surrogacy, in which the carrier also serves as the egg donor, and thus is the biological mother of the resulting child.
• Intended Parent(s): a single person or couple who will become the legal parent of a child born through surrogacy.
• In Vitro Fertilization: More commonly known as its acronym “IVF,” this is a medical process during which eggs are fertilized by sperm outside of the womb.
• Known Egg Donor: A situation where intended parents, and potentially any resulting child born through a surrogacy process, are aware of the identity of an egg donor.
• Matching: The process intended parents undergo to find a surrogate and/or egg donor.
• Multiples: A term that refers to the heightened potential in an IVF procedure of conceiving two or more children when more than one embryo is transferred.
• Pre-Birth Order: A court order, obtained prior to the birth of a child, that will place all parental rights and responsibilities with the intended parents, rather than surrogate. This order typically allows intended parents to place both names on the birth certificate after birth.
• Post-Birth Order: A court order, obtained after the birth of the child, that will place all parental rights and responsibilities with the intended parents, rather than surrogate. Typically, this order will remove the surrogate’s name from the birth certificate and replace it with the intended parents.
• Surrogate: A woman who carries a child for separate intended parents. A surrogate is also sometimes referred to as a “carrier.”
• Traditional Surrogacy: In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is both the egg donor and carrier of a child for intended parents. Therefore, she will be the biological mother of the resulting child. This is contrasted with gestational surrogacy, in which the carrier does not serve as the egg donor, and thus is not the biological mother of the resulting child.