Nayanthara & Vignesh Shivan Welcome Parenthood Through Surrogacy; Why The Choice?

Lady superstar Nayanthara and director Tamil Vignesh Shivan on Sunday (October 9) took to social media to announce that they have welcomed twin newborn sons via surrogacy. Taking to Instagram, Vignesh posted a series of pics of the baby boys and wrote, "Nayan & Me have become Amma & Appa. We are blessed with Twin Baby Boys."

The post continues, "All Our prayers,our ancestors' blessings combined with all the good manifestations made, have come 2gethr in the form Of 2 blessed babies for us Need all ur blessings for our Uyir & Ulagam. Life looks brighter & more beautiful God is double great." The couple tied the knot in June this year in Chennai in an intimate ceremony which was attended by celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Man Ratnam, Suriya, Vijay Sethupathi and others.

The news has left netizens in a tizz, given that it had been only four months until the star's wedding. For those unaware, Nayanthara and Vignesh have opted for surrogacy. Many in India are still unaware that surrogacy is a legal and legitimate way to have your children. The one thing fans are missing here is that having children through natural processes or with other medical methods is completely a private and personal decision.

There could be several reasons why Nayanthara and Vignesh might have preferred surrogacy instead of going through with embracing motherhood the traditional way. Both stars are in the most successful periods of their careers. Nayanthara will be soon making her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan, while Vignesh too is quite busy with his film career. Therefore, given their hectic lives and demanding professions, the couple might not be willing to devote time and, hence, chose surrogacy as a method to embrace parenthood. Secondly, health issues or the need to maintain their body as it is can also be another added reason.

There have been several celebrities who have welcomed kids through surrogacy. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are among the couples who proudly announced that they became parents to a baby girl in June. The actress also shared the pain and issues the child and the surrogate mother had to go through during the whole process. She even spoke about opting for an offspring through such methods, which are quite normal.

Meanwhile, several other celebs, like Preeti Zinta, Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Aamir Khan, and wife Kiran Rao, amongst several others, have embraced parenthood through surrogacy. Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan's youngest son Abram and Shilpa Shetty's daughter are surrogate children.

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is defined as an "arrangement where a surrogate mother bears and delivers a child for another couple or person. In gestational surrogacy, an embryo, which is fertilised by in vitro fertilization, is implanted into the uterus of the surrogate mother who carries and delivers the baby." (source: Google)

The process is an arrangement which is supported by a legal agreement wherein a woman agrees to labour for another person who is the biological parent of the child after the birth. The pregnancy is conceived through a mechanism called IVF, also known as Vitro Fertilization. In such an agreement, the biological couple and the surrogate are linked through a legal contract. The surrogate mother will be compensated for her full services in accordance with the terms of the contract, which is entirely legal by law.

There is a myth attached to surrogacy that the baby may carry the DNA of the surrogate mother. However, there is no truth that there is no transfer of DNA during pregnancy in a gestational surrogacy. Therefore, many couples opt for surrogacy.