Sister to Sister Surrogacy

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of sister to sister surrogacy. The close ties between the surrogate, the intending parents, and the child will be analyzed. This study will also explore the surrogate’s experiences, motivations, psychological effects, and the attitudes that this type of surrogacy entails. Further research needs to be conducted to fill the gap of knowledge regarding interfamilial collaborative reproduction, specifically information regarding the surrogate’s motivations, attitudes, and experiences. None of the research found with an extensive data search pertained specifically to sister to sister surrogacy, with the ovum donor being the intended parent’s sister. No specific data on intrafamilial surrogacy exists as of 2012.  Ethical issues are at play with sister to sister surrogacy, such as comdemnation for selling women's bodies and reducing them to commodities, and or seeing surrogacy as an altruistic gift. Sister to sister surrogacy can be controversial, and has been banned in some countries, such as Japan.

Goals:  Illuminate patterns of reactions, interactions, and relationships between the surrogate and her partner, the child, her own children, the intended parents, extended family, friends, and her community relationships.

Methods: Utilize grounded theory, a qualitative method to systematically collect data to discover a pattern of reactions, interactions, and relationships among people. Grounded theory enables the exploration of human actions and interactions where very little information is available.  Purposeful sampling and personal interviews and constant comparison will be used. The Relational Model will be used to outline the relationship the surrogate has with the couple, the newborn baby after birth, the surrogate's partner, her extended family and friends, and community relationships. Purposeful sampling will be used to select participants that have credibility and can best answer the research question. Participants will be recruited through fliers sent to fertility clinics throughout California. The privacy of participants will be protected. This study will only gather data, and does not plan any interventions.