Surrogacy: The experience of Greek commissioning women

Available studies on surrogacy are extremely limited. Findings suggest that surrogacy is experienced as problem free, with a significant number of commissioning mothers maintaining contact with the surrogates over time.

To explore the experiences of Greek commissioning women regarding the surrogacy arrangement and birth of a child through surrogacy.

The data of this study were collected from 7 intended mothers who had either a long history of infertility or serious health problems. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed employing content analysis.

The analysis of the women's accounts revealed three themes: (a) a shared journey, (b) the birth of a long-awaited child, and (c) the surrogacy disclosure. The surrogacy process became the women's affairs, with their partners offering backstage support. A very close bond was developed with the surrogates, characterised by daily contacts and care-giving behaviours. While this bond was abruptly discontinued after the child's birth, it was interiorised with all participants being grateful to their surrogate. The timing and content of the surrogacy disclosure to family and child(ren) were carefully chosen by participants, who avoided providing information when egg donation was involved.

Findings are reassuring for women who want to parent a child through a surrogate arrangement, and suggest that the availability of counselling services may help intended mothers to cope with disclosure issues.