It is often believed that relatives of surrogate mothers would react negatively to their decision to give birth to a baby for the benefit of other people. However, grounding on the results of one of the British studies, kinsfolk and friends of the people who were subject to the tests were alert to the surrogate motherhood program only at the initial stages of pregnancy.

They motivated such an attitude by their concern about the health and wellbeing of the surrogate mother. But, at a later stage, having had been convinced that no threat was posed to the security of the surrogate mother, they sought to support her emotionally. Moreover, after a baby was born they were a sort of proud for what the surrogate mother had done to help a childless couple.

Sometimes, the decision to become a surrogate mother is made by a woman with her family and friends being directly involved. Such joint decisions and support provided by relatives further maintain surrogate mothers throughout the whole surrogate pregnancy and delivery period. Hence, she does not have to be afraid of her special circumstances and negative attitude displayed by people around.

A number of surrogate mothers were interviewed to find out the degree of their readiness to disclose the fact of their participation in surrogacy programs and sincerity of their communication with relatives and friends.

The attitude displayed towards people of importance was classified by the experimentalists as positive, ambiguous and negative.

Out of 97 % of the women who were polled reported that they had discussed the decision to become a surrogate mother with their families. Their response varied over the following range:

• 48% of the family members were quite positive about the decision to give birth to a baby for a childless married couple;
• 46% of the family members displayed a neutral attitude to the decision of giving birth to a baby for a childless couple;
• 6%: negative response to the decision.

In any such case a surrogate mother is bound to keep the matter of surrogacy confidential, as concerns a couple of genetic parents, considering the fact that childless couples often seek to avoid publicity.

Relatives and friends of surrogate mothers are concerned about their physical and psychological health. After having been separated from a baby, 76 % of surrogate mothers feel well, while 21 % experience mixed feelings, and 3 % feel bad about it.

The above data allow to state that surrogate motherhood does not affect the female psyche functions.

As far as surrogacy is concerned, the response of friends is similar to that of family members. Most friends react positively to the decision of their acquaintance to bear a baby who would not belong to her. The response of 24% was neutral, and only one friend disapproved such a decision.

Most would-be surrogate mothers, although not all of them, had partners or husbands at the stage preceding their participation in surrogate motherhood programs. 20 such women out of 21 interviewee reported that they had discussed in detail the surrogacy program with their partners and only one woman had just a perfunctory discussion of this procedure.

The interview results were as follows :

- 12 partners : positive response ;
- 5 partners : neutral response ;
- 4 partners : negative response .

As regards the degree of support given to the surrogate mothers by their partners, the better part of the women (87 %) reported a steady and well-wishing attitude displayed by their partners during the baby carrying period, while 13 % of women reported more or less gracious attitude on the part of their partners.

According to the active laws of Ukraine, for a woman to participate in a surrogacy program, it would be necessary for her husband to complete a legal certified document authorizing her to do it. In this way the spouse confirms formally that he will not have any rights in respect of a baby to be carried and delivered by the surrogate mother. Most surrogate mothers make a family-related decision to render assistance to a couple of genetic parents. Their relatives are anxious to support them during the whole period of their pregnancy and are proud of their noble action.