Absence of a Legal Framework, a Limitation to the Practice of Surrogacy in Nigeria

Introduction: The human passion for procreation and perpetration of lineage has remained since existence. Surrogacy implies the use of a substitute mother to gestate a pregnancy for another woman and thereafter relinquishes the child/children and any parental entitlement to the child/children to the commissioning parents. It is a veritable option for couples who have not been successful in their efforts to bear children. Objective: to assess the awareness, practice, and limitations to practice of surrogacy in Igbo Ukwu community of Anambra State, South- East Nigeria. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study which involved 200 male and female community members of Igbo Ukwu in Anambra. Sample size of 200 was calculated for the study using the Kish formula for cross sectional studies. Simple random sampling was used in selecting participants who converged in the community square. A structured self-administered questionnaire was employed in gathering information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, practice, and limitations to practice of surrogacy. Data was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the results which were presented with the aid of a pie chart, bar chart and frequency tables. The level of significance was set at 95% probability level (p < 0.05) Result: Most of the research participants were within the age group 28 – 37 years (40.0%), with mean age of 25.3+1yrs. The study population comprised mainly of people who had formal education (93.0%). There was high level of awareness of surrogacy arrangement in the studied population (84%). However, the practice of surrogacy was generally poor; only four (4) respondents out of 120 females that participated in the study (3.3%) had acted as surrogate mother. Financial benefit was mainly the reason for accepting surrogacy as noted in 47.8% of research participants, while fear of victimization due to absence of a legal framework (54.3%) and to a lesser extent, culture (27.1%) and religious inclination (28.6%) were the main reasons limiting the practice of surrogacy among the participants Conclusion: There is an obvious disconnect between the level of awareness and practice of surrogacy mainly due to fear of victimization from lack of a legal framework. This calls for a need to institutionalize a legal framework to control assisted reproductive technology practice in Nigeria which will restore the hope and aspirations of the infertile couple in need of surrogacy and other assisted reproductive techniques. Keywords: surrogacy, awareness, practice, limitations, legal framework.