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 While previous research has found that depression and other
psychological problems can surface in the first weeks and months
after birth, less is known about the long-term impact of surrogacy.
A research team surveyed 20 surrogate mothers approximately one year
after birth and again 10 years later to assess how their mental
health changed over time.
"Findings from the current study suggest that in the longer term
surrogates do not experience psychological problems as a result of
being a surrogate,” said Dr. Vasanti Jadva, the study’s lead author
and a senior research associate at Center for Family Research at the
University of Cambridge in the U.K.
“Given that the majority of surrogates still felt very positive
about the surrogacy it is not surprising that they were not found to
be experiencing psychological problems,” she said.
There are few statistics on the number of babies born through
surrogacy. Due to ethical concerns, the practice is illegal in many
countries around the world as well as in some U.S. states. But
interest in this option continues to grow as more women opt to
postpone pregnancy until later in life when fertility wanes, and as
more same-sex couples look for ways to start families when they
can't conceive on their own.
Jadva and colleagues originally surveyed a sample of 34 surrogate
mothers in 2003 to see how the women felt about the experience
roughly one year after giving birth. A decade later, 20 of the women
participated in a follow-up study.
As reported in Human Reproduction, the surrogates were interviewed
at home and asked in detail about their relationship with the
surrogacy parents and child and their psychological well-being. They
also completed questionnaires to assess mental health.
The group included nine genetic surrogacies, which uses the
surrogate mother's egg. The rest were gestational surrogacies, which
use implanted embryos.
After a decade, all of the surrogates in the follow-up study had
normal or above-average self-esteem, the follow-up study found. None
had signs of depression. Three surrogates had been prescribed
stimulants or sedatives at some point since the 2003 evaluation. Two
of these women were on medication at the time of the follow-up
interview.
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The majority of the surrogates maintained contact with the surrogacy
child as well as with the mother and father raising the child, the
follow-up study found.
Of the 15 surrogates who remained in contact with the child, 14
reported that the relationship was positive. Gestational surrogates
were more likely than genetic surrogates to feel a special bond to
the child.
Due to the small study size, as well as the loss of some surrogates
from the original study, the researchers said it's unclear to what
extent the findings would be relevant to other surrogacy
arrangements currently being carried out.
It is also possible that the findings might not be applicable
outside the U.K., where surrogacy is legally permitted, particularly
in places where the practice isn't legal, the researchers write.
Even though surrogacy looks very different in the U.S. today than it
did when this research began years ago in the U.K., the findings
still resonate with what many American surrogates may experience,
said Dr. Andrea Braverman, an associate professor of obstetrics and
gynecology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson
University in Philadelphia.
“This study shows that surrogacy can work well, and it can work well
over the long term, but it doesn’t tell us what conditions made this
possible,” said Braverman, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
“Personally, when I talk to surrogates after they deliver, they
don’t look at it as giving up their baby, because it was never
theirs to begin with. It is an amazing, personal life experience
that people go through together and the fact that they come out of
it feeling positive doesn’t surprise me.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1ACFRnQ Human Reproduction, online December
19, 2014.
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