SurrogateMothers are those women who abide by the legal terms and conditions of surrogacy to conceive, carry and give birth to children on behalf of other genetic parents who are somehow unable to give birth to their children on their own. A surrogate mother is, therefore, not the genetic mother of the baby she gives birth to.

Surrogacy is one of the Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART). A surrogate mother carries the embryo of another couple in her womb, gives birth to a child and is law bound to hand over the child soon after its birth. In Australia, a surrogate mother is not legally permitted to have any genetic connection with the child she gives birth to. This means the egg of the surrogate mother is not used in the arrangement of surrogacy. The couple who wants a child through surrogacy have to donate the egg and the sperm.

People need SurrogateMothers to give birth to their children due to very many reasons. If a woman is unable to become pregnant due to some surgery or some internal disorder, she might want a surrogate mother to bear her child and give birth to it. A single parent without a male or a female partner might want to have a child and can opt for the Assisted Reproductive Treatments and surrogacy is one of those treatments. Sometimes it becomes fatal for a woman of extremely poor health to conceive and carry an embryo in her womb and in such a condition she and her male partner might decide to have their child with the help of a surrogate mother.
The surrogacy arrangement is a legal contract created between the surrogate and the party who wants a child through surrogacy. The arrangement of surrogacy is a complex process and involves legal, financial, emotional, as well as, medical issues. In some cases a donor egg might be used in conjunction with the sperm of the genetic father to form an embryo. The embryo can then be transferred to the womb of the surrogate. Similarly, a donor sperm may also be used in conjunction of the egg of the genetic mother to form the embryo which is transferred to the surrogate mother who carries the baby and gives birth to it after due time.

In Australia, it is illegal to pay the SurrogateMothers beyond their medical expenses. The Australians States allow altruist surrogacy only. This prohibits the surrogate to receive any financial help beyond compensation in terms of reimbursement of her medical expenses from the party in contract with her in the agreement of surrogacy in australia.

The legal terms and conditions of the surrogacy agreements may vary from one to the other in Australia. The requirements of a permissible surrogacy arrangement may also vary. Anybody who is willing to have a child of his/her own through the arrangement of surrogacy must come to terms with the legal issues involved in the arrangement before he/she or a couple consults the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority for a surrogate mother.

This content has been taken from: http://surrogacycentreseo.blogspot.in/2013/08/who-are-surrogate-mothers.html