The Tough Topic Of Termination
Termination. A tough topic for everyone, no matter what your opinion on the matter. Perhaps you’re ready to start your surrogacy journey but you haven’t thought about the subject yet. Some agencies require the surrogate to be open to termination. At New Mexico Surrogacy, we do not require this and aim to match surrogates with intended parents who are on the same page regarding that topic. Just to give you an idea and to get you thinking, here are some of the questions we ask on our gestational carrier application.
Are there any specific conditions under which you would not terminate a pregnancy? Please explain.
If you were pregnant with more than two fetuses would you be willing to undergo selective reduction in order to increase the chances of survival and health for the remaining fetuses?
If it were determined that the fetus had Down syndrome and the intended parents wanted to terminate the pregnancy on that basis, would you be willing to do that?
If there were a serious medical problem with the fetus and the intended parents wanted to terminate the pregnancy, would you be willing to terminate the pregnancy?
So…let’s look at some scenarios.
Amy would like to be a gestational surrogate and is against termination for any reason whatsoever. Can she still be a surrogate with New Mexico Surrogacy? Yes! While fewer and further between, there are also intended parents who are against termination.
Jenna is interested in becoming a gestational surrogate. She’s wiling to carry twins but does not want to carry more than twins. If two embryos are transferred and one or more splits, she would like to do selective reduction. Is this a possible request? Yes! She would be matched with intended parents who are okay with and also would choose selective reduction should this specific scenario arise.
No one makes the decision to terminate a pregnancy lightly. Many Intended Parents just want the ability to make the choice, even if in their heart of hearts they know they would never make the actual choice to do so. But with that in mind, it’s vitally important that you are honest about your beliefs on the subject and your willingness to terminate, or not, and in what circumstances.
The bottom line? These are all things that you need to carefully consider before matching with intended parents. It’s important to discuss these topics and to have it in your gestational surrogacy agreement ahead of time. There are gestational surrogates and intended parents who are for and against termination for differing reasons, and the answer that matters the most is what your own personal beliefs are. At New Mexico Surrogacy, we work hard to create matches that are good for both parties involved. Depending on your preferences, it may take a bit longer to match, but in the end, the most important thing is that everyone is happy and that a healthy baby (or babies!) is the end result.