Is Adoption Better Than Surrogacy?

The major differentiating factor between adoption and surrogacy is the fact that in surrogacy, the baby shares a genetic relationship with one or both parents, while in adoption, the baby is not genetically related to either. The experience of building a family is deeply personal, and for the people who face the challenge of conceiving or expanding their family, surrogacy and adoption are different paths to parenthood. Understanding the pros and cons, as well as the timeline and the costs of each can help intended parents in determining the route that may be appropriate for them. While every journey is unique, education and insight into both processes will allow for an informed decision. Both gestational surrogacy and adoption are great ways to complete a family. Both processes have their advantages and disadvantages.

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is a process where a woman carries a pregnancy and delivers on behalf of another person or couple. The woman who carries the pregnancy is called the surrogate, while the couple are called the intended parents. Surrogacy is often chosen by individuals or couples who are finding it difficult to carry their child themselves due to a medical issue or same-sex couples who want a biological child. Surrogacy can take up to 18-24 months to be completed, depending on the individual circumstances. There is also a transnational form of surrogacy where intended parents from regions or countries that do not allow surrogacy, through meditour agencies or medical health travel agencies, seek to complete their surrogacy process in favourable countries as a form of overseas medical treatment. Those countries allow the practice as a form of health or medical tourism.

What are the types of surrogacy?

There are two generally recognized forms of surrogacy, they include:

• Traditional surrogacy – In this type of surrogacy arrangement, the surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intended father and gets pregnant. Therefore, she is the child’s biological mother. 
• Gestational surrogacy – In this type of surrogacy, the surrogate mother carries a child that was conceived through the intended parent’s sperm and egg or a donor’s gametes. This ensures that the surrogate has no genetic link with the child.

What is Adoption?

The legal procedure by which an individual or couple legally adopts a child who is not their biological child is known as adoption. It provides a means to build a family and offer a loving home to the child in need.

What are the types of adoption?

The types of adoption are:

• Domestic adoption – This involves adopting a child within the same country. The process and requirements vary depending on the laws and regulations of the specific country or the state.
• International adoption – The international adoption involves adopting a child from another country. It requires navigating through the legal requirements of both the home country and the adopted child’s country of origin.

What are some of the important differences between surrogacy and adoption?

To help with the decision-making process, here are five important differences between adoption and surrogacy:

The costs of adoption vary from the cost of surrogacy 

No matter the option chosen, one can expect that each will require some major expenses during the process. This may include agency fees, legal fees and medical costs. However, surrogacy involves the additional expense of fertility treatments and the compensation that is due to the surrogate. This can make surrogacy to be more expensive than adoption.

The medical and legal processes differ 

Surrogacy involves very complex legal and medical processes. The process is defined by a legal contract that clearly outlines each party’s roles and responsibilities to the child, the majority of which is completed before the birth of the baby. It also involves a planned pregnancy which is achieved through a series of medical procedures. The same procedures are not required in an adoption process. The legal processes involved in adoption happen after the birth of the baby, with both parents legally consenting to the adoption and the adoptive parents getting granted custody by a court.

Genetic relationship with the child 

This is one of the advantages of surrogacy. It ensures that there is a possibility of a genetic connection of the baby with one or both of the intended parents. This is because the intended parents contribute eggs or sperm that can be used to create the embryo, after which the embryo is medically transferred to the surrogate’s uterus. This biological relationship makes surrogacy a popular option for families who feel strongly about having a genetic child.

In addition, being biologically related can help in the simplification of the legal process and give the intended parents more control during the pregnancy. In contrast to this, adoption typically involves an unplanned pregnancy, with the birth mother being the biological parent of the child. This means that the intended parents will have no genetic relationship with their baby. It may also imply that the birth mother could have more complicated emotions towards the process. In some instances, this can lead to complications in the process legally and socially.

Screening and matching processes are different 

The surrogacy matching process tends to be more mutual and personal, as opposed to many adoption programs, which allow adoptive parents to specify certain criteria about the types of adoption opportunities that they are open to. Also, the birth mother typically reviews many families’ profiles before ultimately deciding the family that she will allow to adopt her baby.

Involvement in the surrogacy or adoption process varies 

Adoptive parents usually have very little or no control over the adoption process, and depending on their relationship with the birth mother and the circumstances surrounding the birth, they may not be involved in most of the pregnancy. Legally, the prospective parents also have the right to change their minds about the adoption at any point in the process. This creates a sense of uncertainty for the adoptive parents. However, in surrogacy, there is a legal contract in place that clearly outlines each party’s expected involvement and relationship with the baby. Since this is a legal agreement which is negotiated and signed ahead of the medical surrogacy proceedings, there is never any question about the fact that the surrogate is carrying the baby for the intended parents and that she will keep herself and the baby healthy during the pregnancy.