Social networks burn with the decision to Ana Obregon to have a daughter surrogacy. The actress, of 68 years, has left a Miami hospital in a wheelchair with the baby in her arms. Little else is known. As is normal in these cases, there are no data on the pregnant mother. However, it is worth wondering about her situation. Possibly, everything went well for her, but we must not forget that, beyond the logical ethical problems, surrogacy is also a risk for the woman who must become pregnant.
Both for this and for the ethical part, surrogacy is not legal in Spain. That is the reason why Ana Obregón has moved to USA, where the regulations are much more lax. But let’s leave aside the ethical questions, which are clear and are being debated a lot at the moment. Let’s focus on health.
Both the pregnant woman and the baby can experience a series of risks that should not be ruled out. There are the logic of a pregnancy, which never without complications. But, according to some studies, there may be more.
The consequences of surrogacy
Two to three people can participate in surrogacy. On the one hand, we have pregnant mother. And, on the other, to a couple or a single personas in the case of Ana Obregón.
When it comes to a heterosexual couple without problems in their sexual cells, they each donate their own. He the sperm and she the eggs. If one of them has a problem in this regard, she turns to a donor. Same as when it comes to a homosexual couple or a single person. In the case of Ana Obregón, given her high age, it is logical that she also resorted to donor eggs, since her ovarian reserve It must be already very diminished and deteriorated. In fact, that is precisely why some women, who expect to be mothers later in life, freeze their eggs when they are younger.
With these gametes (sex cells) a in vitro fertilization (IVF). In other words, under controlled laboratory conditions, ovules and spermatozoa are brought into contact for fertilization to take place. If the spermatozoa have mobility problems, you can resort to a intracytoplasmic injection, or ICSIbut in these cases it is not usually necessary.
Once the embryo has begun to form, it is implanted in the surrogate mother. Therefore, she puts the uterus where the baby will develop for nine months. And it is also the one that is exposed to the pregnancy risks.
They must have been mothers before
Precisely because it is important to know how the pregnant woman will respond to the pregnancy, in many countries there is a rule that this must have had a child before of natural form. Thus, you can know if you faced any of the typical risks. If not, you are eligible for surrogacy.
And it is precisely on this norm that it is based a study published in 2017 in the journal Fertility and Sterility. In it, for the first time the differences between the results of the pregnancy of the pregnant women, when it was natural and when it took place by surrogacy. Thus, it was found that some adverse perinatal outcomes increased, such as preterm birth, low birth weight, hypertension, maternal gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia.
One may wonder why this is. Is it because of fertilization in vitro or by surrogacy? It is something that is not clear and that should be studied in more depth. On the one hand, it is true that some studies have been done in which it is concluded that a small proportion of women who become pregnant through IVF may experience these risks. However, it is not clear if this is due to the techniques used or simply because they are usually people who had previous reproductive problems.
In the case of women who lend themselves to surrogacy, they do not have reproductive problems. In fact, they have already had children and they have done well. It may be casual, not everyone is the same with all their pregnancies. However, we cannot rule out the psychological factor. It is more than proven that stress can trigger many problems during pregnancy and childbirth.
Women who offer themselves for surrogacy usually do not do so out of pure altruism. they need the money. This is already a stressor per se. But, in addition, knowing that they will have to be separated from the baby when it is born, no matter how much they have given their consent, can also be a cause of stress. All this could complicate both the pregnancy and the delivery.
The problem of the age of Ana Obregón
Ana Obregon is 68 years old. When her daughter turns 12, she will be 80. It’s an age when children need the care of their parents, but she will be so old that she may be the one who needs care. All this can affect the girl psychologically. Like the fact of losing her mother at a young age, if that were the case.
For all this, in Spain the maximum age allowed to undergo assisted reproductive techniques is 50 years. in some clinics it may even be less.
Unfortunately, in surrogacy, everything moves with money. She has been able to pay for it and his age has not been taken into account. No thought has been given to how everything will affect that child in a few years. And that is a big mistake. Because not everything should be bought with money. Much less people.