A woman may resort to surrogacy when the uterus is absent or when there is a serious illness (e.g. heart disease, high blood pressure, liver or kidney disease, etc.) that makes pregnancy impossible or life-threatening. In these cases another woman, the surrogate mother will have the embryo resulting from the IVF of the mother’s ovum with the sperm of her partner in her implanted in her womb to carry it to term.
Selecting a surrogate mother is done by the couple itself. The transfer of the patient’s fertilized eggs to the body of the surrogate is authorized by court order. In many European countries surrogacy is prohibited, but in Greece it has been permitted since 2002 (N.3089/2002).