Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of childless women of surrogacy as an assistive reproductive technique. Childless women in marriage experience psychological problems characterised by marital instability, divorce, stigmatisation and abuse. The objectives of the study were to (a) identify childless women, (b) determine their awareness and knowledge of surrogacy, (c) establish their values and beliefs on the issue of surrogacy, and (e) assess whether they would be willing to consider surrogacy as an option to address their infertility. The study was qualitative and a case study design was used. Ten childless women were recruited from a social worker’s caseload. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these women and saturation was reached with the seventh participant. Data were analysed thematically. The findings of the study suggest that childless women knew about surrogacy as an assisted reproductive technique and that they would consider the technique as an option to address their childlessness brought about by infertility.
Highlights
The purpose of the study was to explore perceptions of childless women of surrogacy as an assistive reproductive technique
In this study 35% of the participants were aware of surrogacy, 37.8% would accept it as treatment and most would prefer a stranger as a surrogate
2.2 Polygyny Sub-theme 3.1: Coping with infertility Subtheme 4.1: Having no child to send on errands Subtheme 4.2: Feelings of inferiority Subtheme 4.3: Psychological impact of infertility Subtheme 5.1: Opting for surrogacy
Summary
The purpose of the study was to explore perceptions of childless women of surrogacy as an assistive reproductive technique. A glance through the professional journal, Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk from 2003-2020 reveals no articles published on this subject (see Poote & Van den Akker, 2009). This contribution hopes to plug this gap. Women’s infertility is a problem that still receives little attention in South African social work literature (Poote & Van den Akker, 2009). A study closer home was conducted by Bello et al (2014), who looked at in vitro fertilisation, gamete donation and surrogacy with reference to the perceptions of women attending an infertility clinic in Ibadan, Nigeria. Acceptance of ART was associated with older age, longer duration of infertility, previous failed treatment and women without other children
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