Surrogates face higher risk of pregnancy complications, study finds

Experts say the findings highlight the need for improved prenatal care for surrogates. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Women who act as pregnancy surrogates appear to have a higher risk of health complications than those who carry their own babies, researchers have found.

The use of surrogates, or “gestational carriers”, has boomed in recent years, with figures for England and Wales revealing that the number of parental orders, which transfer legal parentage from the surrogate, rose from 117 in 2011 to 413 in 2020.