A fertility doctor has revealed that an increasing number of rich and famous celebrities who don’t want to ruin their figures by becoming pregnant are hiring him to arrange for a surrogate to carry the child for them.
The Daily Mail is reporting on the revelations made by Los Angeles-based Dr. Vicken Sahakian of the Pacific Fertility Center who says perfectly healthy women are opting to pay another woman to carry their child in order to spare themselves the ordeal and preserve their figures – which is known as “social surrogacy.
“Typically these are women who prefer not to get pregnant and not to go through the process of pregnancy for many different reasons. For instance if you are a model or an actress and your income is based on performing and how you look and pregnancy will ruin that for year, if not more,” Dr Sahakian told Jodie Marsh for her latest TLC documentary entitled Making Babies.
Dr Sahakian, who has performed over 6,000 IVF procedures and seen more than half result in live births, said he has had a number of “well-known” clients over the years who chose social surrogacy for their own reasons. He told Marsh that some even faked their own pregnancies while a surrogate was actually carrying their child.
“We are talking about well-known women,” Dr Sahakian confirmed, although he refused to name names. “It would be taboo for them to admit they used a social surrogate. I have had a couple of patients who pretended they were pregnant, yes.”
Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker and actor husband Matthew Broderick had twins Marian and Tabitha in 2009 through surrogacy when Parker was 44 years old. The couple already had a 13 year-old son together.
However, during an interview before the twins arrived, Parker admitted that they had been trying to expand their family to no avail and chose IVF and surrogacy.
She said, “It would be odd to have made this choice if I was able to, you know, have successful pregnancies since my son’s birth.”
Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban also chose to have their second child, Faith Margaret, by surrogate in 2010. Kidman was 43 years-old at the time and was also struggling with fertility problems.
However, Sahakian says most of his social surrogate clients are younger and know they want to be mothers, but don’t want to delay motherhood until their 30’s and 40’s which could be too late. However, they are also not interested in “ruining” their bodies in their 20’s when their careers are at a peak.
Social surrogacy becomes a viable option – if the couple can afford it. This process can typically cost anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000.
“If your looks have something to do with your income and if you wait till your late thirties you may have a harder time getting pregnant. If you want to be a parent than you are better off using a surrogate and being a mother and a career women at the same time.”
Marsh didn’t hide the fact that she was horrified at the idea that women would actually do this for such trivial reasons as not wanting to ruin their figures.
“I would never chose to let someone carry my baby if I was capable of doing it myself,” she said. “’Once again it proves money can buy anything. If you want to climb the career ladder, you can outsource your stretch marks.”
She admitted to being “uneasy” about the idea of perfectly healthy women “farming out their pregnancies” to social surrogates.
I think most of the population of the world would agree with her.
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