नियोग को मेडिकल भाषा में "Surrogacy" कहा जाता है । आज दुनियां भर में सेरोगेसी से कई महिलाएं गर्भ धारण करती है ।

Niyoga was a Hindu practice, primarily followed during the ancient period. It was permitted for the widows or wives who had no child by their spouse to procreate a child with another man. The basic purpose of niyoga is to ensure the continuation of the family lineage and to mitigate the financial and social precariousness that a childless widow would have faced in society. Niyoga was forbidden in the Kali age by Brhaspati and other smrti writers. It has been held that niyoga has nothing to do with polyandry. Sir Henry Maine thinks that the Niyoga is of a later date than the Levirate, but J. D. Mayne justified regarding the Levirate as merely an enlarged form of the Niyoga, that came into effect after a man's death. The Niyoga system, which enabled a woman to choose and invite a male with the desirable seed, and bear children.