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At Manchester Fertility, Surrogacy is available to everyone, regardless of gender, relationship status or sexual orientation. You may consider surrogacy if:
If you need both donor sperm and donor eggs for your surrogacy treatment, we will be unable to facilitate this for you due to the law requiring at least one intended parent to be a biological parent of the child.
For more information, please contact the clinic directly to discuss the next steps or alternative options for treatment.
Full surrogacy, or Gestational Surrogacy, is when the eggs from an intended parent or a donor are used to make embryos for the surrogacy treatment. Therefore, there is no genetic connection between the baby and the surrogate.
Partial Surrogacy, or Traditional Surrogacy, involves an egg from the chosen surrogate being fertilised using sperm from an intended parent of the baby. In this case, the surrogate and your baby would have a genetic connection.
Regardless of whether or not you use donor eggs for your treatment, you will still need a parental order.
At Manchester Fertility, we predominantly use IVF and ICSI to help your surrogate get pregnant regardless of whether a patient has chosen the Full Surrogacy or Partial Surrogacy pathway. This is because we believe it ensures the highest possible chances of success for your treatment.
If you have any concerns about the treatment process, our expert team is always ready to offer their support and answer any questions. Contact the clinic directly via your patient app or on 0161 300 2730.
A parental order is necessary to become the legal parent of a surrogate-born child in the UK. There are a few conditions that an intended parent must meet to apply for a parental order. These are:
HFEA, the Human Fertilisation & Embryo Authority, advises that you cannot pay a surrogate in the UK. However, you are responsible for reimbursing any reasonable expenses that the surrogate incurs, such as maternity clothes, travel expenses and loss of earnings.
It is not unusual for a family member or close friend to act as a surrogate. However, some patients prefer to choose their surrogate from a recognised surrogacy partner for their treatment.
We understand that finding a surrogate is a deeply personal choice. Although we can't make the decision for you, as a specialist fertility clinic, we have compiled all the resources you will need to help you in your search.
Several UK-based organisations can support those on their journey through surrogacy and help you source the right surrogate for your treatment. We would recommend the following:
Surrogacy can be a long process, and it is important to be realistic and take the time you need at each stage. Generally, you can expect a surrogacy journey to take at least 18-24 months. Still, depending on the surrogacy destination you choose and how your personal journey progresses, it could take double that.
If you use donor eggs or sperm from a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) licensed clinic, your donor will not:
If you source donor eggs for your surrogacy treatment, it will be the surrogate, not the donor, who is considered your child's legal parent until your parental order is processed.
Yes, many people choose a friend or family member to act as their surrogate because they already have a good relationship. It is important to still have the proper agreements in place and to seek legal advice about your surrogacy, similar to if you sourced a surrogate through an agency, even if you have a close relationship with your surrogate.
Yes, surrogacy is legal in the UK, but if you make a surrogacy agreement, it cannot be enforced by the law. You can find more information on the legal implications of having a child via surrogacy and advice for intended parents on the GOV.UK website.
As surrogacy is unavailable via the NHS, many futures intended parents choose to start their families through an HFEA-licensed fertility clinic. As My Surrogacy Journey's Northern & Midlands Centre of Excellence, we offer comprehensive, tailored surrogacy treatment packages to everyone, regardless of gender, relationship status or sexual orientation.
Due to current UK law, the surrogate is automatically regarded as the child's legal parent, even if they are not genetically related.
However, you should still be treated as the child's caregiver and be expected to care for your child from birth. Once your parental order application is approved, legal parenthood will be transferred from the surrogate to you.
There are many different paths for surrogacy that you could choose to take. However, we have detailed a typical journey below for your reference:
A person must meet a few requirements before they can become a surrogate. This ensures that your child and the surrogate are at no risk during the pregnancy. These criteria are:
The surrogacy networks we work with, and recommend, ensure the surrogates they work with meet all of these criteria in advance.
The two types of surrogacy are Full Surrogacy, also known as Gestational Surrogacy, and Partial Surrogacy, also known as Traditional surrogacy.
Full surrogacy is when the eggs from an intended parent or a donor are used to make embryos for the surrogacy treatment. Therefore, there is no genetic connection between the baby and the surrogate.
Partial Surrogacy, or Traditional Surrogacy, involves an egg from the chosen surrogate being fertilised using sperm from an intended parent of the baby. In this case, the surrogate and your baby would have a genetic connection.
Regardless of whether or not you use donor eggs for your treatment, you will still need a parental order.
Yes, same-sex couples and single individuals can use surrogacy to have a child. However, to apply for a parental order within the UK, a process required to transfer legal parenthood from the surrogate to the intended parent(s), the intended parent(s) must have a genetic link to the surrogate-born child.
If you still feel you need more guidance and support, you can book a FREE 1-2-1 discovery meeting to talk through the options available to you.