Practice in which a woman (the surrogate mother) bears a child for a couple unable to produce children, usually because the wife is infertile or unable to carry a pregnancy to term.
The surrogate is impregnated either through artificial insemination (usually with the sperm of the husband) or through the implantation of an embryo produced by in vitro fertilization. The surrogate traditionally gives up all parental rights, though this has been subject to legal challenge.