Despites no legislation to guide its practice in Nigeria, surrogacy, which is a reproductive process that has brought joy and fulfilment to many couples struggling with fertility issues, soars in Nigeria, LEADERSHIP has learnt.
For instance, a recent study titled: “In-vitro Fertilization, Gamete Donation and Surrogacy: Perceptions of Women Attending an Infertility Clinic in Ibadan, Nigeria”, carried out on 307 Nigerians, revealed that 58.3 per cent of Nigerians were aware of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and 59.3 per cent of them affirmed that they would accept it as treatment; 35.2 per cent would accept donor eggs and 24.7 per cent would accept donor sperms—a smaller proportion anticipated acceptability by their husbands.
Also, findings of the study revealed that 35 percent of respondents were aware of surrogacy and 37.8 per cent would accept it as treatment, but with a stranger as a surrogate.
Mrs Ada Eze, 46, is one of the women who not only claimed she would go for surrogacy, but actually did it.
According to her, she got married nine years ago, and her plan was to get pregnant immediately, as the advice from her doctor still rings in her head.
“My doctor told me that at aged 35 to 40, it is difficult to get pregnant, due to the fact that age factor is a key indicator for fertility. For instance, he told me that for healthy couples in their 20s and early 30s, around one in four women will get pregnant in any single menstrual cycle. By age 40, around one in 10 will get pregnant per menstrual cycle.
“I knew what I needed to do when I got married at the age of 37. However, for the past eight years, my husband and I kept trying every month, including IVF, all to no avail. At aged 45, we decided to go for surrogacy. Today, I am carrying my bundle of joy” Mrs Eze told LEADERSHIP.
Despite the fact that there is no law on surrogacy practice in Nigeria, it has assisted a lot of infertile women to carry their bundle of joy, fertility expert and managing director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi,
When faced with infertility, couples are introduced to many treatment modalities, terminologies and abbreviations, especially when Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is required; One of these modalities/terminologies is Surrogacy, which is a form of third party reproduction, Ajayi disclosed.
The managing director defined surrogacy as an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman (the surrogate mother) agrees to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another person(s) (commissioning couple) who is or will become the parent(s) of the child.
There are two types of surrogacy, which are the traditional and gestational/IVF surrogacy, Ajayi averred, adding that, “The traditional surrogacy is a process where the surrogate mother is artificially inseminated by the intended father or an anonymous donor and carries the baby to term. The child is therefore genetically linked to both the surrogate and the owner of the sperm sample.
“On the other hand, gestational/IVF Surrogacy: An egg is removed from the intended mother or an anonymous donor and fertilized with the sperm of the intended father or anonymous donor via IVF. The embryo is transferred to the surrogate who carries the baby to term. The child is therefore genetically related to the owner of the eggs who could be either the intended mother or a donor and the owner of the sperm but not the surrogate.”
The managing director said a woman with no womb; a woman with any kind of uterine disease or anomaly; a woman who may not have a diagnosed uterine issue but who has failed to become pregnant after several embryo transfers; a woman who has history of miscarriages or pre-term birth thought to be due to factors other than egg/sperm quality or genetics (i.e. uterine or cervix issues); basically, anyone who does not have a womb or who has one that does not appear to work correctly is a good candidate for surrogacy.
“If you are doing gestational surrogacy, you will need to do IVF, as the sperm and egg would need to be extracted. Next is to choose surrogate. This is where the major problem lies, as some couple would choose their close relative as surrogate. My advice for couple who want to go for surrogacy is for them to choose someone who is not close to them, and get a good and versatile lawyer who can draft agreement, to prevent future crises.
“After choosing your surrogate, the fertility clinic jumps in by screening the surrogate to ascertain her mental and health status. After that process, the embryo is then transferred into her womb and we wait for two weeks, to know if she is pregnant or not.
Though surrogacy is common in Nigeria, the constitution of Nigeria prohibits its practice, as Section 30 of the Child Rights Act (2003) prohibits the buying, selling, hiring or dealing in children.
Also, the Trafficking In Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act also condemns all forms of human trafficking, hence the reason why police raids of baby factories are common in recent time.
Some of police raids on baby factories include a mission in February that rescued 24 babies and four expectant mothers described as “frail and malnourished” in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt and a mission in September that rescued 19 women and girls that had been kidnapped.
While Ajayi strongly condemned baby factory, he however posited that surrogacy should be encourage in Nigeria, as it is an option of ART, that can help a lot of couples who are battling with fertility issues.
“We need to make people understand what surrogacy really is. That will help them to desist from patronizing baby factory. Surrogacy and baby factory can be likened to a situation where someone goes to the bank and collect his money, through the normal process and another person goes to the bank at night and break the bank to collect his money.
“Though, it is his money, but he didn’t follow the normal procedure. That is the same with baby factory, as it is not legally recognized, while surrogacy is recognized in Nigeria, but we need legislation to guide its practice,” Ajayi stated.
He disclosed that Lagos state is trying to come up with legislation on surrogacy. “We eagerly look forward to it. The state did an open session, to get input from practitioners. So we look forward to it, because a lot of people are abusing the process. The legislation should cover areas not only from the practitioners, but also from surrogates and intended couples,” he advised.
In the same vein, the former president, Fertility Awareness Advocacy Initiative (FAAI), Mr Omos Evborokhai, strongly frowns at baby factories, just as the law also frowns at it, while urging fertility challenged couples to go through the medical route, which is safer.
“If you want to adopt, please adopt legally, but if you want to go all out, then seek medical intervention which is safer, instead of going through the back door to buy babies. You are only deceiving yourself and the law will catch up with you. If you have headache, you go to the pharmacist; if your car has problem, you take it to the mechanic; if you are battling with infertility, then seek the attention of a medical expert, rather than keeping innocent girls, holding them hostage, until they conceived and give birth, which is a criminal act,” Evborokhai advised.
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