Ini Edo, a gifted Nollywood actress, has said that she had an intimate rather than businesslike relationship with the surrogate who delivered her child.
It was remembered that the actress, who became a mother through surrogacy in June 2023, claimed she made the decision because she had experienced several miscarriages and wanted to have a kid even though she was not married.
Speaking at the free IVF seminar Meet Surrogate Mothers, Edo described her relationship with her surrogate as one of collaboration and emotional intensity.
According to the movie star, she was physically, medically, and emotionally involved and emphasized that surrogacy should never be viewed as a simple business deal.
For her, the trip was personal rather than commercial. A stranger from an anonymous system was not the surrogate who bore my child. She had a family of her own, her own ideals, and her own aspirations.
The woman was not a vessel. I was involved at every stage. Most of the time, intended moms participate in prenatal care, parental care, medical decisions, and pregnancy-related emotional bonding.
“They are traveling this journey together even though they are not physically carrying this child.” The journey is somewhat shared even though they are not physically bearing this child.
Furthermore, Ini Edo asked society to see surrogacy with compassion and openness and demanded more robust legal safeguards.
The actress also praised recent developments in Nigerian legislation, such as a bill that the House of Representatives is proposing to outlaw commercial surrogacy.
A new narrative that supports ethical surrogacy based on mutual respect, legal protection, and informed consent is required, she continued.
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“A world in which no family is ever denied hope because their route to parenthood appears different, and where no woman is exploited.” Although it requires control, openness, and compassion, surrogacy is not a factory and is not flawless.
It is a link between hopelessness and happiness, between strangers who end up becoming family, and between the miraculous and the impossibly difficult.
Speaking of regulations, I was pleased to see that the House of Representatives attempted to outlaw commercial surrogacy in Nigeria and also suggested imposing a two-million dollar fine and jail sentence on corporations that violated the bill’s other provisions.
Along with the bill’s prohibition on commercial surrogacy, another important clause states that arrangements must be entirely altruistic, meaning no money is made other than to cover pregnancy-related and medical costs.
Specifically, there are two safeguards against coercion in forced surrogacy partnerships. We require legal certainty and protection.
“The Nigerian legal system ought to acknowledge and defend the rights of mothers who use surrogacy, guaranteeing complete legal parentage and preventing legal disputes in court.” Instead of stigma, surrogacy should be respected.
