Surrogacy for HIV positive Men: What are your available options?

Surrogacy is a wonderful option for an individual or a couple to realize their parenthood dreams. Still, if you are an HIV-positive man, the road ahead seems a bit tough to navigate. However, with expert supervision and medical support, one can really begin their journey regarding surrogacy for HIV-positive men.

Given the recent advancements in medical science, HIV can be managed. Besides, in order to ensure the safety of the future child and the surrogate mother, the HIV-positive men or women have to undergo a detailed list of diagnoses before developing their embryos.

These tests and diagnoses are done to ensure that the HIV viral load stays undetectable during the surrogacy procedure.

Is surrogacy for HIV-positive men possible?

You cannot quote HIV as a death sentence anymore as it was a few decades back. The world has come to a stage where it can be treated with the right medical care and support. Just like that, you can proceed with surrogacy even while being an HIV-positive man.

All you need to ensure that both the intended parents and the surrogate mother are safe from the risk of HIV during the surrogacy proceed. In fact, HIV-positive men can still create raise a healthy and HIV-negative child while working with the best medical professionals.

HIV and Sperm washing

In order to understand how HIV is spread, you first need to understand how an HIV virus can be transmitted to a child from their parents. Despite the fact that the HIV virus is sexually transmitted, a man’s sperm cells do not actually carry the virus. Instead, the virus is transported by the seminal fluid. As a result, sperm washing can be said to be the most efficient way to assist HIV-positive men in becoming parents to a healthy, HIV-negative child.

During the sperm washing process, a semen sample is processed in a lab in order to get rid of bacteria, non-moving sperm cells, seminal fluid, and other contaminants. Moreover, what’s left over is a big bunch of sperm cells that are extremely mobile and can be used in IVF to develop embryos. Besides, the washing procedure is also very good at lowering the HIV viral load to undetectable levels.

If we talk about the sperm washing process, the freshly retrieved semen sample is typically layered over a specially created density gradient. Afterwards, the highly mobile sperm cells are then separated from the rest of the ejaculate by spinning them in a centrifuge. That said, we get the virus-free sperm sample at the end of the process. On the other hand, thousands of IVF clinics have used washed sperm with success and safety to ensure the best results in surrogacy for HIV-positive men.

Bringing an egg donor into the Surrogacy for HIV-positive men

In most of cases involving same-sex surrogacy or single-parent surrogacy, the intended father has to bring an egg donor into the picture. So, in this particular situation, the donor eggs will be mixed with the washed sperm in order to form an embryo.

Once done, the same embryo is then been implanted into the womb of the surrogate mother. While this may be helpful for same-sex surrogacy, egg donors have their significance in a lot of other ways.

Having the right people by your side matters!

Regardless of whether it is surrogacy for HIV-positive men or else, having the right support matters. Hence, you must always look for the right surrogacy agency or professionals to help you through. That said, you must always check through the below pointers before finalizing a surrogacy clinic or agency.

Check about their experience and background

The surrogacy process for HIV-positive men is quite critical. Hence, you may need an agency or clinic that is coming with some good background and experience in the same domain. By doing that, you can ensure that all the procedures are been undertaken in the best manner possible.

Besides, HIV surrogacy for men requires a list of tests and diagnoses all along. So, only a capable medical centre or agency will be able to take care of the job.

Check about their services

Here comes the most important point. The agency should be well-versed in dealing with surrogacy for HIV-positive men and must have all the required expertise and equipment to carry out the tasks. So, you must check on their services while having a look personally or via their official website.

Being an intended parent, you must also see if the agency abides by the regulations regarding surrogacy for HIV-positive men. If you stay in a country that doesn’t permit such a type of surrogacy arrangement, you may opt for a foreign location instead.

Still, even in that case, you have to check on the surrogacy laws and regulations of the particular country.

Legal services provided

During a surrogacy program, the intended parents have to deal with many parties like surrogate mothers, egg donors and other agencies. Doing that, they may need to sign various agreements and contracts. Hence, connecting with a surrogacy agency with a legal team can help them to stay on course with all such legal requirements.

On the other hand, the same legal counsel will take care of the rights and responsibilities of every party involved.

The right guidance

Intended parents may face situations where they feel anxious and depressed about the entire procedure. Besides, there may be times when they would feel like entirely giving up on their surrogacy journey.

For all such situations, having the right counsel by your side can make a lot of difference. These counsellors from the surrogacy agency can make you deal with a certain phase in the right manner possible. Besides, they will address all your concerns regarding the ups and downs of a surrogacy program.

Final words

Surrogacy for HIV-positive men is a possibility, given they are clear through all the required tests and diagnoses. Hence, being an intended parent, you must coordinate with a reputed surrogacy agency or clinic to bring the best services and support all along.