Independent counseling
After all medical examinations the independent counseling of all the surrogacy agreement participants: the couple of intended parents and the surrogate mother (and her husband or stable boyfriend if there is any) is usually conducted by the counselor. It is necessary to do because there are quite a lot of psychological, legal as well as ethical issues, which surround every surrogacy agreement. The counselor helps the surrogacy agreement participants to make sure that all implications of the procedure are explored in the most careful way, and he also provides help for the intended parents as well as for the surrogate parents in their achieving of a mutual understanding of the huge impact, which their surrogacy agreement will have on their life, on the baby, who will arrive soon in the result of this agreement, as well as on other children of the couple of surrogate parents (an of the couple of intended parents, if there are any), and all possible difficulties, which lie ahead.
It is also possible that the counselor will talk about the issues of confidentiality, about the payment of expenses to the surrogate mother and about the process of adoption of the baby by his or her intended parents.
In addition, the counselor may talk about prenatal screening, like the one for spina bifida and Down’s syndrome, and what will be done in case if any congenital abnormality will be found in the baby, a surrogate mother is carrying.
The counselor’s job is also to discuss the possible degree of risk of multiple pregnancy, and what the surrogacy agreement participants will do, should twins or triplets arrive, as well as what will the intended parents tell their child when he or she grows up.
The distress generated in case of a surrogacy arrangement’s breaking down can be catastrophic, and this is why great care is to be taken in order to provide adequate counseling before embarking on any further treatment.
Ethics committee
In case if the couple of surrogate parents as well as the couple of intended parents become suitable, their surrogacy agreement is put before the ethic committee. The ethics committee consists of professional and law people, and it is considered to be an independent body. The ethics committee evaluates every surrogacy agreement and after that it comes to the conclusion on whether surrogacy is viable and recommended in every single case. The ethics committee estimates all reasons for surrogacy and all the motives for the potential surrogate mother to carry a baby for the couple of intended parents. Moreover, the ethics committee’s work is to evaluate the welfare of the baby, who arrived in the result of the treatment and for any other existing children.
Screening before surrogacy treatment
The couple of intended parents as well as the surrogate mother and her husband or stable boyfriend (if there is any), are all to be screened before they begin any surrogacy treatment. The future intended is to undergo blood tests and ultrasound so that her ovaries and ovarian function would be evaluated.
The couple of intended parents usually have their blood group and Rhesus status determined, however, this test is necessary to conduct only in case if the Rhesus status of a surrogate mother is negative. In addition the couple of intended parents is also screened for HIV / AIDS, hepatitis B and C in order to make sure that neither future surrogate mother nor her baby is at risk of getting any of these diseases.
As for the surrogate mother and her husband or boyfriend (if there is any), they are also to undergo tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C. in addition the blood group and Rhesus status of a future surrogate mother are determined.
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