Introduction:
In spite of many achievements in the field of infertility treatment, medicine is still helpless in some cases – there are couples who will not have their longed‑for offspring. Nevertheless, those who want to have children overcome these obstacles and decide on surrogacy – an agreement with a woman who will give birth to their child.

The aim of this research was to learn the opinion of midwives on the reasons and consequences of surrogacy.

Material and Methods:
The research was conducted in 2009 among 107 midwives.

Results:
The respondents believe that women decide to become surrogate mothers mostly for financial reasons, i.e. because of the payment received after delivering a baby (89.7%). Problems indicated as the most common which appear after giving birth to a child by a surrogate mother are unwillingness to hand over the child to the waiting parents (59.8%), and psychiatric problems which might affect the surrogate mother even many years after the delivery (29%). Only a small number of respondents pointed out possible legal problems.

Conclusions:
The community of midwives represents different opinions on surrogacy – they show neither strong support nor objection against this practice. Results of the research prove poor knowledge of legal regulations regarding surrogacy.