A follow-up study of the experiences and psychological health of surrogate mothers and their families

Surrogacy, the practice whereby one woman bears a child for another woman, remains a controversial method of assisted reproduction. In 2003 the PI published findings from a study of surrogate mothers who were interviewed one year following the birth of their surrogacy child. Whilst the study found that surrogacy can result in positive experiences for women, no studies have addressed its longer-term consequences.

This study followed up this original sample almost a decade later and examined the relationship between the surrogate and the commissioning parents and surrogate child, the attitudes and feelings of members of the surrogate's family, and the motivations of women who engage in repeated surrogacy arrangements.
Surrogates, their partners and their children were interviewed and asked to complete questionnaires examining psychological state and family functioning. Similarities and differences were examined between genetic (where the surrogate is the genetic mother of the child) and gestational (where the commissioning couple are the genetic parents of the child) surrogates and between surrogates who were previously known and unknown to the commissioning couple.