Surrogacy still stigmatized

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BARCELONA, Spain, July 7 (UPI) -- Younger adults are becoming more positive toward surrogate mothers, but attitudes toward surrogacy are still broadly negative, a British researcher says.

Olga van den Akker of the Middlesex University in London says previous stigmatization of surrogate mothers in the media had added to the reluctance to undertake this option.

Van den Akker and Aimee Poote of the University of Warwick Medical School asked 187 women were asked their views on surrogacy. Eight of the 187 were willing to become genetic surrogate mothers and nine gestational surrogates.

"Women who were potentially willing to become surrogates were more likely to say that they would be happy to be identified as the surrogate to the couple and the child," van den Akker said in a statement. "Those who thought that parenthood was very important were also more likely to be willing to help others to become parents like themselves."

The findings are being presented at the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain.