Surrogates

Can I Be a Surrogate After Tubal Ligation?


Key Points:
  • Learn how tubal ligation affects the process to become a surrogate.
  • Get a better understanding of how surrogates with their tubes tied are excellent candidates.
  • Ask any question you have directly to a surrogacy specialist by contacting a surrogacy agency today.

It’s not uncommon for women who feel their family is complete to get their tubes tied as a precaution. Maybe you’ve done the same, but now you’re beginning to miss being pregnant or want to help another couple grow their family. You might be wondering if surrogacy is an option for you.

To get more information about whether surrogacy is right for you, reach out to a surrogacy professional today.

Speak with a specialist today!

Many times, prospective surrogates ask, “Can I be a surrogate after tubal ligation?”

It’s a good question, so we’ve gathered everything you need to know about surrogacy after tubal ligation below. However, remember: The best person to talk to about surrogate health requirements will always be a surrogacy professional or reproductive endocrinologist. They will always be the best judge of whether surrogacy is the right path for you, medically speaking.

In the meantime, find out a little more about being a surrogate after a tubal in this helpful guide.

Can You Be a Surrogate After Tubal Ligation?

Many times, the women who choose to become surrogates have already utilized permanent birth control procedures like tubal ligation. Knowing that they’ll have to successfully carry a pregnancy as a gestational carrier, they worry that being a surrogate after having tubes tied may be impossible.

The answer is the exact opposite — you can definitely be a surrogate with your tubes tied! In fact, many surrogacy professionals prefer this to be the case with prospective gestational carriers (more on that below).

But, before we get into the details of being a surrogate with tubal ligation, it’s important that you understand exactly what this procedure does — and why it doesn’t affect the gestational surrogacy process.

During a tubal ligation, a medical professional cuts, seals, bands, clamps or ties a woman’s fallopian tubes shut. This prevents eggs from traveling from the ovaries to the uterus, thus preventing future pregnancy. It’s a common type of female sterilization that can be completed rather quickly in a hospital or at an outpatient surgical clinic. It’s almost 100 percent effective, and reversing a tubal ligation is a complicated procedure that may or may not be possible. For this reason, women who undergo tubal ligation must be 100 percent sure they do not want to have any more biological children. Tubal ligations do not prevent menstruation, although they will prevent an egg from reaching the uterus every cycle.

Because a woman still has her periods, her uterus can still provide a hospitable environment for an embryo. And that’s why she can still be a gestational surrogate with a tubal ligation.

During gestational surrogacy, a woman is not genetically related to the child that she carries. Her eggs are not used in the in vitro fertilization process; instead, the intended parents’ previously created embryo is transferred to her uterus. A surrogate’s ovaries or fallopian tubes won’t be needed to be get pregnant — just her uterus. For this reason, if you’re thinking of being a gestational carrier, you can still proceed with being a surrogate mother after tubal ligation.

DID YOU KNOW?

Women who have had their tubes tied are actually excellent candidates to become surrogates if they meet other surrogacy requirements.

Why Being a Surrogate with a Tubal Ligation Can Be Useful

You may be surprised to learn that you can be a surrogate with tubal ligation — and that many surrogacy professionals will actually prefer a surrogacy candidate like you! This is for two main reasons.

When you have your tubes tied, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to get pregnant with your own child. This is the ideal situation when you’re trying to get pregnant with another couple’s child instead! You will need to take fertility medication to prepare yourself for the embryo transfer, and this will heighten your ability to get pregnant. Your surrogacy contract will always require you and your spouse (if you are in a heterosexual relationship) to refrain from intercourse to prevent pregnancy, but your tubal ligation will be an extra protection against a pregnancy of your own as you prepare to carry the intended parents’ child.

If you’ve had a tubal ligation, it also means that you are done adding to your family — which is another important requirement to be a surrogate. Pursuing gestational surrogacy comes with risks, including a risk to your future fertility. But, if you become a “tubes-tied” surrogate mother, you and your spouse (if applicable) have already decided that your family is complete. A loss of your fertility is something you’ve already accepted and will play a role in you being an ideal surrogacy candidate.

If you’re asking, “Can you be a surrogate after tubal ligation?” we want you to know that the answer is yes. But, there are some important other requirements you’ll need to meet before you move forward. Surrogacy professionals want to ensure that you are 100 percent physically and emotionally ready for the surrogacy process before you begin, and meeting the necessary surrogacy requirements will help protect you, your intended parents, and your surrogacy professional in the potentially complicated situation ahead.

For more information on whether you meet the requirements to be a surrogate, and how your tubal ligation may play a role in your upcoming surrogacy journey, please contact a surrogacy professional today.

Male and Female couple smiling with surrogate mother
Is Surrogacy Right For Me?

Take our 2 minute quiz to find out

Get Started