IVF, Surrogacy And Adoption: Debunking Common Misconceptions In The Alternative Ways Of Having Children

Parents today have a wealth of alternatives when it comes to having children. Problems like fertility issues, single parenting or same-sex parenting are no longer seen as limitations as there are options like IVF, surrogacy and adoption to consider.

As demands for IVF, surrogacy and adoption increase, the misconceptions about each of the process also increase. Below is a rundown of some of the wrong perceptions about IVF, surrogacy and adoption, as well as the facts behind it.

It's a myth to consider IVF's success rate as higher for good quality embryos and that regardless of a woman's age, conception is still possible for as long as the embryos are healthy and ideal. The truth is most fertility clinics put IVF success rates, even for good quality embryos at that, at 50 to 60 percent only, as per Smart Parents.

Success rate also dips as the woman ages and the risks of either miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy are the same as when conception happened naturally. In other words, the wonders of an IVF scientific procedure has its limitations as well. This means there's always a good chance for no pregnancies even with the help of science.

It's a myth to immediately assume the baby conceived through surrogacy has biological links to the surrogate mother. The truth is it actually depends on the type of surrogacy as there are two processes, as per Web MD.

Surrogacy via IVF doesn't link the mother to the baby genetically. In this procedure, the surrogate mother's egg isn't used even if she carries the baby to term inside in her womb. IVF experts prepare the egg and sperm of the biological parents separately before implantation in the surrogate.

Traditional surrogacy, on the other hand, involves artificial insemination of the donor sperm in the surrogate mother's egg. In this case, the baby conceived does have genetic links to the mom. Whatever the procedure is, however, surrogate moms go through a strict vetting process. It's wrong to assume surrogate mothers do it for money, as per Conceivabilities.

It's a myth to assume adoption takes several years to process. If the papers are in order, then the parents can welcome their new baby in less than a year, as per Adoptive Families.

Adoptive parents who go to the proper process also have a legally binding right to the child. This means that even if the birth parents resurface, they won't have any claims to their biological offspring because of the Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) outlined in adoption laws, as per the National Adoption Center.