An increasingly popular pregnancy method used by celebrities including Jimmy Fallon and Kim Kardashian is associated with an increased risk of complications and death.
A new study has found that surrogates – women who carry and deliver a pregnancy for someone else – are more likely to experience life-threatening complications and death during pregnancy than women who give birth to their own children.
Analyzing data from more than 800,000 pregnancies in Canada, researchers determined that surrogates were prone to developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening condition that causes high blood pressure, nausea and vomiting.
It has also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
The rate of life-threatening health problems that can occur during or after childbirth. It was eight percent for surrogates, compared with two percent for women who carried their own babies.
People decide to use a surrogate for a variety of reasons, whether it’s due to previous complicated pregnancies or infertility. Jimmy Fallon has spoken out about his and his wife’s decision to use a surrogate. Kim Kardashian has also shared her experience with surrogacy, in which she used two different women to have children with Kanye West.
Study author Dr. Maria Velez, an obstetrician at Queen’s University in Canada, said these risks should be considered by people interested in paying others to carry their babies.
Dr. Velez said, “Physicians involved in the care of individuals and couples who need a surrogate mother to form their family should counsel their patients and the surrogate mothers about the potential risk during pregnancy and the early postpartum period.”
Surrogacy, when a couple’s embryos are implanted in the uterus of another woman who carries the baby to term, has become more popular with increasing medical advances.
The researchers analyzed 863,017 pregnancies between 2012 and 2021, 806 of which were surrogacy, and published their findings in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine journal.
Although the issue remains controversial, the authors note, few studies have been conducted to see how safe surrogacy is compared with normal birth.
Dr. Vélez said: “The study was motivated by an increase in the use of gestational carriers worldwide and a lack of information on the impact of this reproductive modality on pregnancy outcomes, for the gestational carrier and her offspring.”
Childbirth is an inherently risky process. When giving birth, first-time mothers are at risk of massive blood loss, tissue tears, and changes in blood pressure.
A well-known complication is preeclampsia, a sudden and dangerous change in the mother’s blood pressure during pregnancy or childbirth that can lead to premature birth, liver damage, seizures, coma, cardiovascular disease and death.
It affects between five and eight percent of all pregnancies in the U.S. and is more common in women who are obese, over age 35, or have autoimmune disorders.
The study found that eight percent of surrogacy births had some type of life-threatening complication, particularly preeclampsia and massive bleeding.
This rate was four times higher than that of the natural birth group, where two percent of pregnancies resulted in complications during delivery.
In addition, surrogates were more likely to give birth prematurely (before 37 weeks of gestation) than other women. Still, overall, the babies born to them were just as healthy as those born to their biological mothers.
The authors note that screening guidelines for surrogates should rule out existing health conditions that would make them more likely to have a complicated pregnancy. However, Dr. Velez said, “these guidelines are not always strictly followed.”
Overall, surrogacy remains a relatively rare situation.
This is likely because it costs a lot of money to support a surrogate mother – it can cost more than $200,000. According to American Surrogacy – making it a thing of the rich.
Researchers found that the risks were higher for women who chose to become surrogates than for women who gave birth to their own biological children.
Salary is one of the reasons why some surrogates opt for this contract. Others say they agree to be surrogates only to help couples who cannot conceive on their own.
People seeking a surrogate mother also have a variety of motivations. Some have had high-risk pregnancies in the past. Others are infertile or are in a same-sex relationship that prevents them from carrying a baby.
One of the factors that complicates surrogacy in the United States is that it is not legal in all states. Nebraska and Louisiana currently prohibit paid surrogacy.
Paid surrogacy came to public attention in the 1980s following a controversial legal case in which a surrogate mother who was paid to carry a pregnancy for a couple in New Jersey changed her mind after giving birth and decided she wanted to keep the baby.
The couple who paid the woman to carry the child sued and eventually won custody. In response, New Jersey, New York and other states instituted a ban on paid surrogacy that lasted for years.
The case, popularly known as ‘baby M’ – turned surrogacy into a nationally controversial issue, with people questioning the ethics of wealthy couples paying surrogate mothers, who are sometimes substantially poorer, for temporary use of their wombs.
In Canada, where the study was conducted, surrogacy is largely legal, with some restrictions.