Olaronke Thaddeus, a fertility counselor and expert is the founder of Meet Surrogate Mothers (MSM) agency; a fertility consulting company and surrogacy expert adjudged as the biggest surrogacy agency in Africa which is involved in counselling as well as giving medical advice and remedies to people suffering from infertility. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she speaks on inspiration behind setting up the agency, legal frameworks for surrogacy, regulation and selecting the right surrogate, among other issues.
What inspired you into the surrogacy line as a woman?
I was inspired to start my company to help women who are finding it difficult to carry their children accomplish their dreams of parenthood through surrogacy I saw that this aspect of fertility option needs to be embraced by couples who truly need this because of their medical issue. They need to know where and how to begin once they get the medical pronouncement to do surrogacy. In the past, couples have had to travel to India or USA to do surrogacy because there was no agency that could offer them such services in Nigeria. Our agency has done so much and the fact that we could be of help to many women and families is our inspiration.
What exactly do you do?
We are into providing surrogate mothers to intending parents and we manage the surrogate mother till delivery on behalf of the intending parents. I started MSM in 2014 firstly as a donor agency helping couples with infertility who need to use donor egg or donor sperm to become a parent and extended our services to surrogacy two years after.
Did you feel intimidated starting this?
Initially, the reception was not encouraging because of the complex nature of surrogacy.
Surrogacy as a concept is not culturally acceptable in Nigeria; how did you cross this hurdle to get accepted as an agency?
We are able to break so many barriers with our anonymous surrogacy. Our agency stands between the intending parents and the surrogate mothers thereby easing so many concerns of the intending parents.
Does surrogacy have legal framework governing it in Nigeria?
Yes, it does. Even though there is no explicit law for or against surrogacy but there is a surrogacy contract signed by all parties. We have also done a lot of custody order in court and all was approved to the advantage of the commissioning parents.
How are activities of surrogate agencies regulated to ensure best practices?
All fertility hospitals and approved surrogacy providers are members of AFRH (Association of Fertility and Reproductive Health) and AFRH in conjunction with Ministry of health in Lagos came up with law that regulates and governs health sector.
What are those things you look out for while selecting a surrogate mother to guarantee a higher success rate?
There are basic factors we consider; age of the woman: our surrogate mothers are between the ages of 25 to 38. She must have her own children at least one and at most three; she must be of sound mind, we do psychological evaluation to assess this and her family must be involved. At least one member of her family must be aware she wants to be a surrogate. Importantly, she must be free from all infections
How will you rate the acceptability of this in Nigeria?
I can tell you that surrogacy is evolving compared to 10 years ago. Surrogacy is no longer a hidden topic. So many women have had babies via surrogacy and have boldly declared this. Nancy Umeh came out recently to narrate her journey to parenthood through surrogacy. Popular actress Ini Edo also became a mother via surrogacy and many more.
There have been cases where surrogate mothers renege on agreement and refuse to let go of the baby, have you ever experienced this?
We have not experienced this; this has never happened in our agency.
How do you ensure this doesn’t happen?
Our surrogate mothers are aware that the babies do not belong to them and they are just helping another woman.
As a registered agency, how do you work at ensuring fake agencies do not tarnish your image?
We basically offer world-class services that will be difficult for any fake agency to imitate.
How do you screen intending surrogate mothers that you use?
We screened them psychologically and medically.
Is this a dull time job for the surrogate mothers or they still live their normal lives while carrying the surrogate child?
Even though surrogacy is not a prison sentence of nine months, our surrogates are aware that during the period of their contract with us they might require bed rest if suggested by the doctor. So we basically work with surrogates who have control of their time.
Do they usually have access to the real parents?
No, they don’t.
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