Elon Musk Surrogacy

Grimes and Elon Musk welcomed their daughter in December of 2021. Exa Dark Siderael Musk, daughter of Elon Musk, was born via surrogacy. The Canadian singer while reluctant to reveal the presence of their second child to the public, initially said she wasn’t at liberty to speak about it when asked initially. But eventually, she admitted that the baby joined their family, while also sharing her full name. 

Disclosing one of the main influencing decisions on why she opted for surrogacy for the birth of their second baby, she described how difficult her pregnancy with their first child X was. She said that in the last month of the pregnancy, she could hardly walk, and kept collapsing because the baby was pressing on her nerves. She recalled an incident during the eighth month of her pregnancy where she took a few steps and then collapsed. Since she did not want to keep falling, especially as she was very far along, she opted to crawl when she wanted to use the bathroom. Also, she revealed that she haemorrhaged, and how scared she was that she might die from the pregnancy. 

She and Elon Musk had decided that they would have about 3-4 kids, and when they wanted to have their next baby, they opted to go through the surrogacy process. As more celebrities choose to share more about their family planning process, egg donation and surrogacy have also seen a rise in popularity. The stories of these celebrities overcoming infertility, and miscarriages, and eventually achieving their desire to have children will inspire others that are going through the same issues.

What is Surrogacy?

Surrogacy is a form of assisted reproductive technology where a woman who is referred to as a surrogate agrees to get pregnant, carry it to term and hand the baby over to a couple or an individual who is referred to as the intended parents. Surrogacy is a very complicated process that requires many steps and will usually take months if not years to prepare and accomplish. 

The process requires very thorough preparations from the intended parents, and they would need to ensure that the surrogate will be satisfied with the agreements made to prevent any future issues. This will include legal advice, extensive counselling as well as psychological and mental assessments of both the surrogate and the intended parents. 

Surrogacy is regulated differently in different countries. In some countries, surrogacy is strictly forbidden, like in India. In others, surrogacy is regulated strictly; for example Georgia and Russia. No specific regulations are guiding surrogacy in countries like Nigeria, Cyprus and Kenya. This is why, depending on the country of the intended parents, they may need to go to another country to go through surrogacy. This can be achieved using medical health travel agencies or meditour agencies who offer surrogacy as part of their overseas medical treatment offers. This service is regarded in those countries as a form of medical tourism or health tourism.

What are the types of surrogacy?

Two types of surrogacy are widely recognized. The first type is the traditional or altruistic type of surrogacy. This is the type of surrogacy where the surrogate will get pregnant using her eggs. She will get inseminated using the sperm from the intended parents. Furthermore, this will create a genetic relationship between the surrogate and the baby. This will usually lead to complications in the case where the surrogate chooses to change her mind about giving up the baby after delivery to the intended parents. This is the reason why this type of surrogacy is not popular with fertility agencies. However, in some countries like Canada and Australia, this is the only type of surrogacy that is allowed by the law. 

The second type of surrogacy is the gestational or commercial type of surrogacy. In this type, the eggs and the sperm that are used to create the embryo are donated either by the intended parents or via donors. After the creation of the embryo, the lab grows it for a few days before conducting an embryo transfer where the embryo is placed into the uterus of the surrogate.

She then carries the pregnancy to term, delivers the baby and then hands the baby over to the intended parents. This type of surrogacy ensures that there are no genetic relationships between the baby and the surrogate. This will ensure that there are no future complications even in the instance that the surrogate changes her mind about releasing the baby to the intended parents. This type of surrogacy is what is widely practised by fertility agencies and is legal in countries like Georgia but only for their citizens.

What are the steps that are involved in the surrogacy process?

For intended parents, the following are the steps that will follow in the case that they want to go through a surrogacy process:

Initial consultation 

This is where they meet with the agency that they would want to handle the surrogacy. In the consultation, a wide array of topics are discussed like the choice of surrogacy to be done, the source of the gametes, the country of choice, legal advice, the financial and emotional implications, etc.

Source an egg and/or sperm donor 

This will usually be an option to be provided by the fertility agency in the case that it is needed.

Choosing the surrogate 

This is a deeply personal and crucial part of the surrogacy journey. The agency will usually have screened candidates to select from. In some cases, the intended parents will have someone in mind already, which makes the process easier and faster.

Fertilization and embryo transfer process 

This is the stage where the intended parents, the egg donor and the surrogate are prepared with medication and other ways to prepare them. The embryo is created and then transferred into the uterus of the surrogate, which then carries the pregnancy to term.

Maternity and childbirth 

After about nine months, the surrogate will deliver the baby into the world. Most intended parents would want to be present in the hospital when the baby is delivered. The surrogate is then discharged from the hospital after the birth of the baby and together with the intended parents, can all return home.

Transfer of legal parenthood 

There will be a need to apply for a parental order to transfer legal parenthood from the surrogate to the intended parents. This is done with the consent of the surrogate in some cases. This is usually a straightforward process with the right legal advice and preparations.