Surrogacy is when another woman carries and gives birth to a child for another individual. Though it can be an emotionally intense and legally complex arrangement, it is growing in popularity among parents as a way of having children.

Having another woman bear a child for a couple to raise, usually with the male half of the couple as the genetic father, is referred to in antiquity. Babylonian law and custom allowed this practice and infertile woman could use the practice to avoid a divorce, which would otherwise be inevitable.

One well-known example is the Biblical story of Sarah and Abraham, a nomadic Hebrew couple unable to conceive. Sarah offered her Egyptian slave Hagar as a surrogate, but later drove her away from the camp when Hagar became impudent during pregnancy. Hagar fled to Egypt, where an angel told her that her son Ishmael would become a leader amongst the Hebrews; she subsequently returned to Sarah and Abraham.

Surrogacy requires a lot of time, money and patience to succeed, whether it's carried out privately or through an agency. But it can bring happiness to all concerned if the medical, legal, financial and emotional aspects are properly considered.

Why choose surrogacy
Someone may choose surrogacy if one can't carry a pregnancy, perhaps because: * Have had recurrent miscarriages. * Have a health condition which makes pregnancy and birth dangerous. * Uterus (womb) is abnormal or absent, whether since birth or after a hysterectomy. * Fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) have failed. * For couples who engage in a same-sex partnership.

Two kinds of surrogate mothers
There are two types of surrogacy — traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy.

In traditional surrogacy, a traditional surrogate is a woman who is artificially inseminated, either by the intended father or an anonymous donor,