Dear Savvy Surrogate: Who Gets the Placenta?

Dear Savvy Surrogate:

I’m currently 20 weeks pregnant with surrobabe. I never saved the placentas from my own children’s births. but my friends keep talking about placental encapsulation after their own deliveries. I’m planning to talk to my doctor about whether this is something worthwhile for me, but in the meantime I need to know who does the placenta belong to? Is it mine to use as I wish? Does it belong to the intended parents? Help me out here!

Sincerely,

Wondering Surrogate

Dear Wondering:

There is definitely a trend for new moms to want to keep their placentas after they give birth.  Sometimes the placenta will be dehydrated and encapsulated for the new mom to ingest.  So how does this work when it comes to surrogacy?

A little background:  In gestational surrogacy, an embryo is formed from the intended father's sperm and an egg from the intended mother or an egg donor.  The embryo grows several days in the laboratory before it  is transferred into the gestational surrogate's uterus.  The embryo then continues to grow and develop into two parts--one part of the embryo becomes the fetus and the other part of the embryo becomes the placenta.  The placenta supports the fetus as it grows.  After the baby is born, the placenta is also delivered either vaginally or via the c-section incision.

The bottom line is that the placenta develops from the embryo.  Because of this, we encourage you to view the placenta as something that properly belongs to the intended parents.  If a surrogate wants to keep the placenta, this should be worked out with the intended parents, preferably before the contract is signed.  Best practices are to have any agreement about the placenta in writing to avoid future disputes--this is true for so many things when it comes to surrogacy!

Keep in mind that the delivery hospital will have to approve the release of the placenta.  If keeping the placenta is important to you, and the intended parents approve of your plan, please confirm ahead of time that your delivery hospital will allow its release.

Wishing you a safe delivery!

Savvy Surrogate

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