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A child brings immense value and joy a child into the life of a parent. Couples who are deprived of this joy probably for some medical concerns or age issues resort to surrogacy. When surrogacy involves a monetary recompense, it is called commercial surrogacy, and when the intent behind surrogacy is to help a childless couple, its altruist surrogacy. Surrogacy is not globally legal. Different countries follow different laws on surrogacy.
Surrogacy in Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan surrogacy is legal. There are some countries where surrogacy is completely prohibited like Cambodia, Germany, France, and Denmark. Some countries like Thailand, Australia, Canada, and the UK permit only Altruist surrogacy.
What is Surrogacy?
When a woman is deprived of the joy of motherhood due to higher age, fibroids, history of multiple miscarriages, chronic diseases like Cancer or any health complication resulting in the removal of the uterus, the services of a surrogate mother are sought. A surrogate mother is one who agrees to carry your baby for the complete pregnancy term taking care of your baby throughout the journey to deliver your newborn as a gift to you.
Know in detail about: Surrogacy
Types of Surrogacy
Surrogacy depending upon the process of insemination can be classified into –
- Traditional Surrogacy– In this type of surrogacy, the surrogate mother is biologically related to the newborn. The eggs of a surrogate mother are artificially inseminated with the sperms of the intended father to conceive a baby.
Traditional surrogacy is not a very popular method among the intended parents as it involves high risk and the process of adoption is legally complex. Due to the surrogate mother being biologically connected to the child, the emotional quotient is higher. This increases the probability of the surrogate mother’s denial to give the child.
- Gestational Surrogacy- This method is more popular than the traditional one as it is legally less complex and the newborn is not biologically related to the surrogate mother.
Mothers who want a biological connection with their child but are not capable of doing so, prefer gestational surrogacy. In this method, the embryo developed as an outcome of an in vitro fertilization of eggs of the intended mother with sperm of the intended father is artificially implanted in the body of a surrogate mother.
In this case, the probability of success is higher as the emotional connection between the surrogate and the child is lower due to no biological connection between them.
How surrogacy in Georgia Is Different From Other Countries?
Law for surrogacy in Georgia approves surrogacy only in heterosexual couples who are legally married. Commercial Surrogacy was legally accepted in Georgia in 1997.
- According to Georgian Law, the surrogate mother has no right of claim on the newborn child. The surrogacy agreement clearly defines the compensation to be paid for surrogacy and other inherent terms and conditions including the legal rights of the newborn child. The agreement requires signatures of both the intended parents and the surrogate conducted before a local notary so that clauses of the agreement are binding to both parties.
- It allows for surrogacy from Tbilisi Clinics that provide a comprehensive package for medical facilities right from regular maternity check-ups of the surrogate to the handing over of the newborn safety to the intended parents.
- You get the birth certificate just one day after the birth and the name of the intended parents are mentioned as natural or legal parents. The name of the surrogate or process of surrogacy in Georgia being utilized for childbirth is nowhere mentioned on the certificate. This makes the intended parents lawful parents which cannot be challenged by any court of law in any country.
- Most of the surrogate Georgian mothers belong to a lower middle-income group but are educated and employed. This background has an impact on their thought process and therefore they adopt a professional approach.
What Are The Laws of Surrogacy in Georgia?
Surrogacy Laws have given surrogacy, sperm donation, and egg donation legal status in the year 1997. According to the Georgian Laws, a surrogate mother has no legal right to the newborn child and it safeguards the interest of both the surrogate and the intended parents. This makes Georgia one of the popular surrogacy destinations for childless couples.
Requirements for registration of intended parents for surrogacy in Georgia:
- Surrogacy Agreement
- Certificate to the effect of embryo implantation into the body of surrogate mother issued by IVF Clinic.
- Birth certificate issued by maternity hospital.
 Law for Surrogacy in Georgia has two important articles to be discussed here-
- Article 143 provides for extracorporeal fertilization or IVF with written consent in cases of –
- Infertility or risk of a genetic disease being transmitted from the parent’s or surrogate’s sex cells to the embryo.
- If a woman has no uterus to grow and develop an embryo.
- Article 144 provides for conserving the embryo or the sex cells of a couple by the method of freezing for the desired period.
Cost of Surrogacy in Georgia
Under the guaranteed surrogacy program, the cost of surrogacy in Georgia ranges somewhere from $38000 to $64000. Several factors influence the pricing such as the number of trials, egg donation, complications etc.
The components of a surrogacy package include-
- Cost of Surrogacy
- Cost of IVF
- Cost of Egg donation
You can opt for the services of an agency in case you do not know any surrogate volunteers and want to make the process hassle-free.
The fees will be split between fixed and variable charges. Agency fees are a part of the fixed expenses, as it remains unchanged irrespective of the number of fertilization attempts and legal charges, medical expenses, and surrogate compensation and Reimbursement.
Legal charges are difficult to predict as the services of an attorney are involved. Medical expenses are difficult to predict as it is not possible to determine what situation would prevail at childbirth, the course of treatment required, etc. Insurance also forms an important contributing factor to medical expenses.
Surrogate compensation for surrogacy in Georgia depends on mutual agreement between the surrogate and the intended parents. To protect the interests of both parties (to avert the situation of breach of commitment by either party) a formal legal contract is executed before a notary.
Also read about: Why to avoid Bananas During Pregnancy?
Surrogacy In Georgia: Key Takeaways
Georgia has emerged as a promising spot for medical tourism due to its surrogacy-friendly laws. Everyone deserves a happy family whether naturally or through artificial methods such as surrogacy. Parents who wish to grow their family but are unable to do so due to some chronic medical issues accomplish their dreams in Georgia. Georgian Laws allow compensatory surrogacy and give intended parents legal status making surrogacy in Georgia popular.