Various medical conditions may make it impossible for a woman to carry a pregnancy. Reproductive medicine provides the option of enabling another woman, known as a gestational carrier (formerly called a surrogate) to carry the child of a woman who cannot sustain a pregnancy.

There are two types of gestational carriers:

A traditional gestational carrier becomes artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intended father and uses her own eggs to fertilize the embryo. Many fertility centers, including Pacific Fertility Center do not offer traditional surrogacy. The legal issues and complicated past history of parental rights with traditional surrogacy have led us to discourage this option.
A gestational carrier with IVF does not contribute any of her own genetic material. In this case, the egg as well as sperm are extracted from the prospective parents, fertilized in the laboratory with IVF and then implanted into the uterus of the surrogate.
A gestational carrier may be appropriate for those in the following situations:

No uterus
Abnormal uterine cavity
Several recurrent miscarriages
Recurrent IVF cycles have not produced a pregnancy
Medical conditions would make pregnancy dangerous for the mother or her baby