Having a child through artificial insemination is no longer a surprise to anyone. It is simply expensive. Giving birth to a child through this method has become a savior for some families in Armenia. Single Armenian women can have a child by a donor easily. Doctors claim that the chance that a woman can get pregnant after this is the same as the chance that a woman can get through sexual relations with a man.
“It’s not always that a family has a child and then the woman gets pregnant at the same time, right?” says head of the laboratory department of the “Scientific Center for Mother and Child Health Care” Karen Jinanyan. “The same thing happens here. A woman might get pregnant after the first try, the second, the third and she may not get pregnant at all.” The centers for donors consider their achievements to be the provision of high levels in pregnancy through sexual relations. This is when they get the fetus in the laboratory and then install it in the hole of the woman’s uterus. This method is applied when the woman can wait for nine months but can not get pregnant due to physical difficulties. K. Jinanyan assures that their center guarantees 38% positive results. “Most centers barely guarantee 10-15%,” says Mr. Jinanyan. “Of course, this does not refer to the centers in developed countries. Those centers have better technical equipment and finances and can guarantee 50% positive results. Our center is the best in the Southern Caucasus.”
Even after our interview, Mr. Jinanyan was getting ready to “give life” to a fetus in the laboratory. They have gone through many difficulties to get the fetus. They have tried and failed, and then they have gone to France to train but alas, have failed once again. Finally, they succeeded. The first pregnancy through donors in Armenia was in 2003 when Georgian Armenian Karine had 3 children in a row. Nearly 20 women have had children through donors in this center, but more than 20 children have been born because very often mothers have 2-3 children. K. Jinanyan says that they usually install three fetuses and it is possible that all three of them “stick”. Ten women are waiting to give birth. He is sad that the state can not provide means for women who want to have a child through a donor but don’t have the money for it. Sperm donors may cost thousands of dollars for the woman who wants to have a child. True, the husband and wife or single mother that want to have a child will not save one penny, but as they say, you have to spend the money that you have. One pregnancy through a donor in this center costs 500 dollars. If the woman is lucky and gets pregnant from the first try, then she will have to make some expenditures during the nine months and the expenses differ for each woman. It depends on the woman’s organism. However, it is rare when pregnancy happens after the first try and the couple spends a lot of money for the second, third, fourth, sixth and even the tenth and hundredth tries. For example, in a developed country like France, the first four tries are free of charge and the state takes care of the expenses. In Armenia, that is not possible. The state claims that giving birth is too expensive, but that is only written “on paper”. If the woman or the couple need a male donor, that is another problem. It is very hard to find a male sperm donor, Armenian men do not easily agree to become fathers and then not know how many children got born thanks to them. They are paid a very small amount for being donors; thus they are not interested.
“We don’t see many male sperm donors come to us,” says K. Jinanyan. “We are the ones that find them. They come and get checked to make sure they can give birth to healthy children. We recommend the healthy men to become sperm donors. Of course, until that the donor must have had a child. He must not be above the age of 30, etc. But due to Armenian mentality, Armenian men do not wish to sell their sperm and finding donors becomes a problem.” According to K. Jinanyan, the center currently has 6 male sperm donors and they change them periodically. It is known for a fact that one man can be a donor for ten women in a city where there are approximately one million inhabitants. Otherwise, there is a great chance that sister and brother get married despite the fact that this is possible even when we have one man for ten women.
It is interesting and yet applicable to give birth to children through the so-called surrogate mothers. This is when the fetus reproduced by the couple is installed in another woman’s body. This method is applied abroad and it is done when the woman does not want to destroy her perfect figure due to pregnancy. When this happens, the doctors find another woman, called a “surrogate mother” and install the fetus received in the laboratory. The surrogate mother must give the child to the real parents after giving birth and, according to the agreement, receive certain compensation. There is no way that the fetus can get characteristics of the woman during the nine months of pregnancy. After all, aren’t similarity and inheritance gene characteristics? Generally, actors and singers are the ones that ask the surrogate mothers for help in having a child. There are businesswomen that do not wish to stay at home during the nine months, so she asks the “surrogate mother” for help. According to K. Jinanyan, the center has given birth to three children with the help of the “surrogate mothers”. “But those cases were not because of the actresses,” says K. Jinanyan, “it’s just that the uterus of those women was removed, but the ovaries were kept in their place. One woman had rented a surrogate mother from the village. She kept the mother at her house. She received her child after birth and according to the agreement, the couple paid the surrogate mother. The woman’s sister was the surrogate mother for the second child. There has been a case when the mother, being young, has given birth to a child instead of her daughter.”