Alternative Routes To Motherhood

When conventional conception isn’t possible it no longer means the end of the road for aspiring parents. From adoption and foster care to egg donation and surrogacy, here’s a look at the alternative routes to parenthood around the globe.

By Joanne Lillie

Relationships

By Joanne Lillie

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The road to motherhood, like life, is often complex and divergent: women are opting to have children young and old, with partners and without, with their own eggs and with others’. As perception of the motherhood experience has grown increasingly diverse, so too have the options. While there are now alternative routes to parenthood, you’d be forgiven for thinking information outside of the traditional conception-pregnancy-birth framework is hard to find and hard to follow. Legislation and regulations around adoption, surrogacy, and egg donation are ever-changing, emotionally charged, and politically complicated. There are also conflicting points of views between those working in the field.

And when you do, finally, find some information, it is often disheartening. For those who want babies but need to take alternative routes, the road ahead may be filled with obstacles, roadblocks, and even a wrong turn or two. Deciding to create a family is a deeply personal choice, and how you do it will depend on your determination, resources, capacity for endurance and whether a biological connection is a personal priority. Sometimes, it simply won’t happen due to infertility (unexplained or otherwise).

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