Posted on: March 24th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
A new story on the Today show highlights a phenomenon that we’ve been aware of for a while now, that is single men turning to surrogacy when they are ready. Stephanie Scott, one of our founders, is mentioned in this story!
Dr. Conrad Cean was nearing 40 when he felt his biological clock ticking — with no special someone to help him start a family. So he did something that’s only recently become an option for single men: He turned to IVF and a surrogate halfway around the world to make a family of his own.
The 43-year-old pain specialist from New York City is now the proud, single father of 18-month-old twins, Konrad Fritz II and Kennedy-Josephine Marie. And he’s considering adding to his brood.
“I grew up in a very close family with two sisters, parents in Queens and cousins,” he told TODAY. “We’ve always been a tight family and I always wanted children.”
Cean’s surrogate family takes on special poignancy in the wake of the blowup between British singer Elton John and the fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana after the founders recently championed “traditional” families andcriticized fertility treatments in a magazine article.
Courtesy of Dr. Conrad Cean/Alex Kaplan Photo
Dr. Conrad Cean and his twins, Konrad Fritz II and Kennedy-Josephine.
Although no one keeps track, plenty of bachelors are intentionally having babies, though perhaps not “in the millions,” said Dr. Philip Werthman, director of the Center for Male Reproductive Medicine and Vasectomy Reversal in Los Angeles, who helps men optimize their sperm for IVF.
“The desire to be a parent is similar, whether you are gay, straight, in a relationship or not,” he said. “For these men, they are getting older, they have the resources and the love to give and they want to go ahead. Technology gives them the ability to have children outside traditional means.”
Cean said he planned to marry by 33 or 34, but his busy schedule interfered with finding the right woman.
“I had just finished my fellowship and was trying to get the lay of the land in the business of medicine,” said Cean. “I thought I would meet the right person, but I didn’t want to force anything.”
After two failed embryo transplantations in India in 2012, Cean went to Panama where for about two-thirds the cost of surrogacy in the United States, his twins were born on Aug. 30, 2013.
“I was ecstatic,” said Cean, who used his own sperm and is biologically related to the twins. “It’s other worldly, worth a thousand bucks, a million bucks. It’s hard to put into words.”
Stephanie Scott, executive director of Simple Surrogacy in Dallas, says she sees men like Cean “all the time.”
Courtesy of Dr. Conrad Cean / Alex Kaplan Photo
The Cean twins.
“Some of them have been focused on their careers for so long, they never got married,” she told TODAY. “A lot are afraid they have missed their opportunity and don’t want to wait and hope they’ll find the right woman.”
In gestational surrogacy, a woman is implanted with an embryo through in vitro fertilization using a donor egg and sperm. The baby is not genetically related to the surrogate mother.
In the United States, a man could spend up to $150,000 for all the medical costs, including $10,000 for an egg donor and $25,000 for the surrogate mother.
Scott arranged for Peter Gordon, a 48-year-old middle school teacher from Brimmer and May in Massachusetts, to have his twins with the help of a surrogate. His twins, 3-year-olds Noah and Olivia, were born in St. Louis.
Courtesy of Peter Gordon
Peter Gordon with his twins Noah and Olivia
“It’s funny,” he told TODAY. “I always said when I was in my 20s I would find the woman of my dreams and be married. But in my 30s I was at a junior boarding school and didn’t pay much attention to relationships. All of a sudden, I was in my 40s.”
Gordon said he made a “pact” with himself. If he reached 44 and was not married, he would look into an “alternative way” to have a family. The summer he turned 44, a relationship dissolved and he began to look into surrogacy, a lengthy project that, in the end, cost him $90,000.
“I had to qualify for loans and lines of credit,” he said. “I vetted agencies. I was meeting surrogates and getting an egg donor. It was all a blur. … Still, I was determined.”
The surrogate he chose was 23 and single, but had a child. “She made a decision she wanted to help others,” he said.
Gordon was in the delivery room at the full-term birth. The twins had a baby nurse and now a nanny, and he makes sure there are plenty of female influences in their lives.
“Oh my gosh,” he said. “It was the most unbelievable dream come true. It’s one of the hardest things I have ever done, but a lot of it is instinct. … From the minute they were born, they were in my arms and have been there ever since.”
Gordon says he still dates, when he can, but caring for twins is “tiring.”
“I still think it will happen,” he said of finding a wife. “And it would be great to share this with someone. … But that void I used to feel when I worked at boarding schools is no longer there, because my life is filled with my kids.”
As for Cean, he said that he, too, would still be open to marriage.
“I am definitely still looking,” he said. “My two biggest things are finding someone genuine and sweet with a kooky sense of humor. Someone offbeat.”
But his weekend family life is also full and rewarding: a Saturday gymboree class, naps and bottles, an afternoon walk in the park or drive out to Queens to see his parents, sister and cousins.
“My family was skeptical at first — obviously they would be,” said Cean. “But I have absolutely have no regrets.
“Hey, gay guys do it all the time. I told myself I was the straight half of a gay couple.”
Posted on: February 26th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
I hate to say we’re happy to see someone be sentenced to jail time, but we can’t imagine a respected agency ever taking client funds. People who use surrogates and egg donors to create their families put thousands of their dollars on the line to be able to create their families, and it is always disheartening when someone decides to break that trust and steal from their clients. We are always happy when someone is punished for hurting Intended Parents and defrauding their customers. It is our hope that this punishment will prevent others from stealing from their vulnerable customers.
Surrogacy Agency Pleads Guilty To Ripping Off Would-Be Parents Who Paid for Egg Donations
(Newsroom America) — The owner of a Glendora egg donation and surrogacy company has pled guilty to a federal wire fraud charge and admitted defrauding would-be parents, egg donors and surrogates over the course of more than three years.
Allison Layton, a 38-year-old resident of Star, Idaho, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge George H. Wu.
Layton, who owned and operated Miracles Egg Donation and sometimes used the name Allison Jarvie, lived in Glendora during the course of the scheme.
Between August 2008 and January 2012, would-be parents—who in the surrogacy and egg donation world are known as intended parents—paid thousands of dollars for egg donation and surrogacy services that Miracles promised to coordinate.
Layton took money—often tens of thousands of dollars—from the intended parents, but, instead of putting the funds into escrow accounts to be withdrawn only for certain costs related to the surrogacy or egg donation, Layton used the money for her own personal expenses or to cover unpaid costs related to other clients.
As a result of Layton’s misappropriation of client funds, egg donors, surrogates, attorneys and others often were not paid for all the services they provided and intended parents often did not receive all the services for which they had paid. At least one investor in Miracles also lost money.
When the donors, surrogates and intended parents sought to recover their money and costs, Layton would lull them into believing they would be repaid through false assurances that payments had already been made or would be made soon.
As a result of the fraud scheme, more than 40 victims lost more than $270,000.
As a result of her pleading guilty to wire fraud, Layton faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Layton is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Wu on May 28.
Posted on: February 24th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
Another country closed its doors to commercial surrogacy today after the scandal resulting from an Australian couple deserting their child. It is unfortunate that Intended Parents now have fewer choices on how to create their families, but it is also very good that people who sought to take advantage of poor Thai women to carry their babies can do so no longer.
Thailand bans commercial surrogacy
Parliament passes law banning fees and preventing foreign and same-sex couples from seeking surrogacy services
The case of Baby Gammy put overseas surrogacy arrangements in the spotlight in Australia. Photograph: Apichart Weerawong/AP
Australian Associated Press
Thailand’s parliament has passed legislation banning commercial surrogacy, putting a halt on foreign couples seeking to have children through Thai surrogate mothers.
The issue of surrogacy was in the spotlight in Australia last year after a Western Australian couple were accused of leaving a twin boy, known as Baby Gammy, with his surrogate mother after they discovered he had Down syndrome.
The legislation passed by Thailand’s national legislative assembly on Thursday closed loopholes in the country’s public health laws that enabled commercial surrogacy to thrive.
The new law bans all foreign and same-sex couples from seeking surrogacy services in the country.
Only married heterosexuals with at least one Thai partner are allowed to use surrogates. There are no fees allowed for the service and the surrogate mothers must be Thai and over 25 years old.
The surrogate mothers are also required to be relatives of either the husband or wife.
The legislation also includes a ban on advertising and promotions, and shuts down surrogate agents and unregistered clinics.
The Baby Gammy case made headlines in August 2014 when Thai surrogate Pattaramon Chanbua alleged West Australian couple Wendy and David Farnell had abandoned Gammy and returned to Western Australia with his healthy twin sister, Pipah.
Farnell, a convicted child sex offender, retained custody of Pipah late last year after an investigation by the WA Department for Child Protection.
Through the support of charities and the public, Gammy and his surrogate mother and her family have a new home in Thailand’s Chonburi province and he is receiving the medical treatment he needs.
Pattaramon also applied for Australian citizenship for Gammy and it was granted last month.
Officials from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs (Dfat) said last year up to 150 Thai surrogate mothers carrying babies for Australian couples were expected to give birth by the end of 2015.
Dfat officials have negotiated with Thailand for a transition period to enable the children and their Australian parents to depart Thailand.
Posted on: February 20th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
As we have seen before, International surrogacy has huge risks, foremost is having the children be “stateless” after birth when they cannot be brought back to the Parent’s country or be issued passports by the delivering couple. Another unfortunate couple is now trapped in legal limbo in Mexico after the birth of their twins. They will likely spend what they had thought they had saved in Surrogacy fees abroad paying attorneys to try and fix their problems to bring their babies home. We strongly discourage International surrogacy for these reasons and wish the Parents luck in their struggle to get legal recognition for their babies.
Gay couple stuck in Mexican legal limbo after birth of surrogate twins
Luis Delgado and José Antonio Fernández are unable to secure passports for their children
Luis Delgado and José Antonio Fernández, a gay married couple from Spain, decided to have a child via a surrogate mother in Mexico. Their twins were born on January 6, but the four of them have found themselves unable to return together to their home country.
Due to a legal anomaly, they cannot secure passports for their children, given that the state of Tabasco, Mexico, where the surrogacy took place, recognizes surrogate births, while the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) – the government department responsible for Mexican passport applications – does not.
The couple say they have heard “very positive words” from the Spanish authorities, but nothing more.
It is illegal for couples to have children via surrogates in Spain, but if the country where the surrogacy takes place officially confirms that the couple (whether they are homosexual or heterosexual) are the biological parents of the children in question, they can be registered in Spain and obtain Spanish passports. If not, the mother must appear on the paperwork. But Delgado and Fernández cannot produce an acceptable version of that certificate for the authorities.
The pair signed a surrogacy contract in Mexico last year, and when the babies were born they registered them in Tabasco with José Antonio as the father, and on another part of the form, Luis as the other parent. The part of the form where the mother should have appeared was left blank.
When they got to the SRE office in the Mexican capital, their problems began, and they were denied Mexican passports.
The agency they had hired for the process, Ayudando a Crear Familias (or, Helping to Create Families), helped them invalidate the original birth certificate, and they requested a new one in Mexico City, upon which they appeared as the two parents. On Monday, they traveled to the offices of the SRE in Cancun, accompanied by the Spanish consul in the city. “They told us that our case has been put on hold,” explains Luis.
The diplomats from Spain say Spanish passports can be issued if they include the name of the mother on the certificate. “But that is not going to happen,” says Luis. “We are the parents – we are not going to lie.”
Posted on: February 18th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
The Irish Legislature indicated that they will be taking up the cause of Surrogayc to end the legal no-mans land that currently exists in ireland for babies forn of Surrogacy. We look eagerly on their new developments.
Surrogacy legislation to be discussed by Cabinet
Leo Varadkar proposal that one parent would share genes aims to end legal vacuum
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar: The surrogacy proposals are expected to include a provision that at least one of those involved has to be a genetic parent. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish TimesThe State’s first set of proposed laws to deal with surrogacy are expected to be considered by Cabinet today.
At least one of those involved in a surrogacy arrangement would have to be a genetic parent under the proposals to be brought to Government by Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.
The proposals are designed to reform the law in accordance with recent Supreme Court decisions and will cover the transfer of parentage from a surrogate to an “intending” parent, according to sources.
This is one of the provisions in the draft heads of a Bill on Surrogacy, Assisted Human Reproduction and Associated Research drawn up by Mr Varadkar’s officials.
The proposed legislation, which would for the first time provide regulation in an ethically sensitive and rapidly changing area of medicine, is designed to bring to an end the existing legal vacuum.
The Bill, which Department of Health officials have been drafting over the past year, will set out proposals to regulate or limit practices in the areas of surrogacy, embryo donation, sperm and egg (gamete) donation as well as areas of associated research.
Children’s welfare
The legislation aims to safeguard the welfare, safety and best interests of children, bring certainty to the area for potential parents and provide guidance on what is permitted in terms of research.
The programme for government contains a commitment to legislate to “clarify the law surrounding assisted human reproduction, including the law relating to parental relationships arising from assisted human reproduction”.
It was originally intended that surrogacy arrangements would be dealt with in the Child and Family Relationships Bill being developed by the Department of Justice. However, after the resignation of former minister for justice Alan Shatter, his successor Frances Fitzgeraldannounced the provisions on surrogacy would no longer be included in that Bill.
Posted on: February 4th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
How wonderful it would be in new York City would finally catch up with the rest of the country and allow compensated surrogacy. we have many clients in new York who would love to have their surrogates located in their own state, to seem them and work with them throughout the pregnancy! We do encourage New York to establish fair and legal surrogacy so that so many more parents and surrogates can enjoy yhe joy of parenthood together.
Battle Over Paid Surrogacy Opens New Front
The bill is personal for this New York senator
In many states, hiring a woman to carry and give birth to a child for you is illegal. But democratic New York Senator Brad Hoylman is fighting to change that in his home state. On Wednesday, he and the New York State assembly re-filed a bill called the Child-Parent Security Act to legalize compensated surrogacy in New York, and provide protections that ensure surrogates are entering into legal agreements and there’s no question that the intended parents of the child have full rights.
For him, the issue is personal and political.
New York forbids compensated surrogacy and is the only state where criminal penalties can be imposed on people who enter into a paid surrogacy agreement. That means that couples who want to use a surrogate to have a child that they’re genetically related must travel to a state where the practice is legal in order to do so.
That’s what Hoylman and his husband David Sigal did. Their daughter Silvia, now 4, was born via a surrogate in California, where compensated surrogacy is legal and parental rights are established prior to the birth of the child. “It added a lot of time and expense and uncertainty to having a child as a gay couple,” says Hoylman. “California has codified legal protections for surrogate families, and I would like to see that replicated in New York.”
Twenty-two states allow the practice and four states—New York, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey—as well as Washington, D.C., forbid it . The remaining states don’t have any rulings on the matter, meaning it’s technically not illegal but there are no laws to protect people should something go wrong, such as legal arguments over who has parental rights.
“I’ve had reports of surrogate children being born in New York illegally,” says Hoylman. “It’s a bit of a wild west scenario.”
Paid surrogacy, whether in one’s home state or elsewhere, is still costly. Basic fees for a surrogate mother can range from $32,000 to $40,000, with medical bills, legal fees, finding an egg donor and paying for insurance on top of it. For couples who travel out of state for a legal arrangement, there’s the added cost of travel throughout the pregnancy. All told, out-of-state surrogacy arrangements can cost around $100,000 on average.
One of the reasons many states are still wary of paid surrogacy is because of a 1988 ruling in New Jersey over “Baby M.” In a traditional surrogacy scenario, a woman named Mary Beth Whitehead agreed to be the paid surrogate for William and Elizabeth Stern, whom she found in a newspaper advertisement. But after giving birth, Whitehead changed her mind and tried to take the child back. Ultimately, the court gave custody to the Sterns, but Whitehead was given legal visitation rights. After that, paid surrogacy was outlawed in New Jersey, and others followed suit.
But thanks to in vitro fertilization, surrogacy today looks very different than it did a decade ago. Experts now recommend gestational surrogacy, where a surrogate fetus is implanted with an embryo made from donor sperm and egg—as opposed to tradition surrogacy, where the surrogate is inseminated with sperm. In the latter case, the carrier is genetically related to the child. Hoylman’s bill does not endorse that form.
Hoylman’s bill establishes the concept of “intended parentage” so that regardless of how a child was conceived, intended parents get rights. For example, in many cases, if a lesbian couple has a child via a sperm donor, the non-biological mother must adopt the child, something Hoylman says women find “embarrassing.”
For now, Hoylman says he has to prove that compensated surrogacy can work in New York.
“I was in the delivery room with my daughter and not everyone has that vantage point,” says Hoylman. “I am mindful that this is a longer term project.”
Posted on: January 16th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
Hopefully in June we can all celebrate equality and family for everyone!
GAY MARRIAGE: HIGH COURT SETS STAGE FOR HISTORIC RULING
BY MARK SHERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would urge the court “to make marriage equality a reality for all Americans.” WASHINGTON (AP) — Setting the stage for a potentially historic ruling, the Supreme Court announced Friday it will decide whether same-sex couples have a right to marry everywhere in America under the Constitution.
The justices will take up gay-rights cases that ask them to overturn bans in four states and declare for the entire nation that people can marry the partners of their choice, regardless of gender. The cases will be argued in April, and a decision is expected by late June.
Proponents of same-sex marriage said they expect the court to settle the matter once and for all with a decision that invalidates state provisions that define marriage as between a man and a woman.
“We are now that much closer to being fully recognized as a family, and we are thrilled,” said April DeBoer, a hospital nurse from Hazel Park, Michigan, after the justices said they would hear an appeal from DeBoer and partner Jayne Rowse. “This opportunity for our case to be heard by the Supreme Court gives us and families like ours so much reason to be hopeful.”
On the other side, advocates for traditional marriage want the court to let the political process play out, rather than have judges order states to allow same-sex couples to marry.
“The people of every state should remain free to affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman in their laws,” said Austin R. Nimocks, senior counsel for the anti-gay marriage group Alliance Defending Freedom.
Same-sex couples can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
That number is nearly double what it was just three months ago, when the justices initially declined to hear gay marriage appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans on same-sex marriage. The effect of the court’s action in October was to make final several pro-gay rights rulings in the lower courts.
Now there are just 14 states in which same-sex couples cannot wed. The court’s decision to get involved is another marker of the rapid change that has redefined societal norms in the space of a generation.
The court will be weighing in on major gay rights issues for the fourth time in in 27 years. In the first of those, in 1986, the court upheld Georgia’s anti-sodomy law in a devastating defeat for gay rights advocates.
But the three subsequent rulings, all written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, were major victories for gay men and lesbians. In its most recent case in 2013, the court struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law in a decision that has paved the way for a wave of lower court rulings across the country in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
James Esseks, leader of the American Civil Liberties Union’s same-sex marriage efforts, recalled the first same-sex marriage that came to the court more than 40 years ago from Minnesota. There, the justices dismissed a gay couple’s appeal in a single sentence.
“It did not go well because the country wasn’t ready yet. But the country is ready for the freedom to marry today,” Esseks said.
The court is extending the time it usually allots for argument from an hour to two-and-a-half hours. The justices will consider two related questions. The first is whether the Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The other is whether states must recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
The appeals before the court come from gay and lesbian plaintiffs in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The federal appeals court that oversees those four states upheld their same-sex marriage bans in November, reversing pro-gay rights rulings of federal judges in all four states. It was the first, and so far only, appellate court to rule against same-sex marriage since the high court’s 2013 decision.
One of the plaintiffs from Ohio, James Obergefell, said he was crying “tears of joy and sadness” after the court accepted his appeal. In 2013, Obergefell flew to Maryland with his dying partner, John Arthur, so they could marry before Arthur’s death. The couple sued to force Ohio to list Arthur as married on his death certificate, which would allow the men to be buried next to each other. Obergefell died 15 months ago.
“I can’t wait to walk up those steps and have the Supreme Court understand that we’re just like everyone else,” Obergefell said.
Gregory Bourke and Michael Deleon have been together for 32 years, were married in Canada in 2004 and live in Louisville, Kentucky. “Our family is like any other family. We have children, we have jobs, we have lives, we are very much engaged in our community and yet we don’t feel like we are being treated yet as equal citizens,” Bourke said.
Ten other states also prohibit such unions. In Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota and Texas, judges have struck down anti-gay marriage laws, but they remain in effect pending appeals. In Missouri, same-sex couples can marry in St. Louis and Kansas City only.
Louisiana is the only other state that has seen its gay marriage ban upheld by a federal judge. There have been no rulings on lawsuits in Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska and North Dakota.
—
Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Louisville, Kentucky, Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee, Dan Sewell in Cincinnati and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
Posted on: January 13th, 2015 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
A Positive Spin on Surrogacy
There have been so many negative stories in the press about Surrogacy that it is nice to hear how wonderfully it can change a life, more than one life. We see far more happiness and peace come from Surrogacy than we see heartbreak come from it, so it is always nice to see a story that gets to the heart of the truth about what a giving, wonderful thing Surrogacy is!
This time of year can often leave a person feeling quite deflated. The festive season and the build up to new year celebrations are an enjoyable time for many, who look forward to time off work to spend with the family. Then it’s over. Back to reality and mundane everyday living.
My aim in the next few minutes, whilst you read my article, is to make you smile, show you life isn’t all bad, that positive things happen.
I have read a few negative articles in the press recently regarding surrogacy. Allow me to tell you my story, in the hope of leaving you with a fuller heart. Infertility is still a fairly taboo topic. Yet the reality is that many people need help to have a baby. It is a serious issue, and it was for me too.
My prayers were answered in the form of a gestational surrogate, who carried twins for me. It takes a special person to be a surrogate and the decision to go down the surrogacy route is by no means an easy one. My husband and I exhausted other options first, but after hours and days of research, speaking to experts in the field, others who had used surrogates, we felt it was the right thing to do.
I have no regrets. Yes, I was anxious, there were trust issues on both sides. But I realised I had to trust her. I found it interesting that she was as anxious that I wouldn’t want to keep the babies as I was of her not handing them over to me.
We sought legal advice, covered every eventuality as best we could, and had counselling together and individually. It was surreal, delving into the unknown, venturing down routes I’d never in my wildest dreams had thought we’d be going. But we did, we got there, our story is a huge success.
There were numerous things we agreed upon between us. One of which was that after the birth we would stay in contact, but only get together once, a few months after the birth and send the occasional text. This helped us get on with our own lives, and enabled me to overcome (as much as possible) the difficultly of going through the pregnancy and watching another lady carry my babies for me because I wasn’t able to.
Not only did my husband and I gain a beautiful daughter and son, but our eldest (conceived naturally) was blessed with siblings. She is a fantastic big sister and our lives were not complete before they came into the world. Cliché, but so, so true: not a single day goes by that I don’t think back on the five years of heartache we went through to get them. But it was worth every second, having patience and determination paid off. Surrogacy was the answer to our prayers.
And so, on the eve of the first birthday of my special twins, I’d like to dedicate this article to our surrogate, a very special lady we will be eternally grateful to and will never ever forget. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Tomorrow, tears of joy will be shed, to replace the tears of frustration and despair.
Posted on: December 23rd, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments
Atlantic Monthly recently published an interesting article detailing the Hidden costs of International Surrogacy in countries such as India and Thailand, and exploring the hidden costs that are involved in having a Surrogacy in those countries. They came to the conclusion that once you factor in all the costs of International Surrogacy, like the travel, Hotel costs, time away form work, Legal paperwork hassles and establishing citizenship in the US for the babies born that American Surrogacy can actually be a more affordable option. As one of the most affordable experienced agencies, Simple Surrogacy tries to make the process as transparent and affordable as possible. We can help point you to options that will fit within your budget and keep the costs of an affordable American based surrogacy within your reach. In addition to keeping your baby a born American citizen for life, you will also have the assurance that your Surrogate is entering into this decision freely and in a fully informed way, and that your babies, if they need assistance when born, will have the best American Medical care at their disposal.
The Hidden Costs of International Surrogacy
Overseas options look cheaper on paper, but they don’t account for fraud, travel costs, and legal headaches that inevitably arise.
When Rhyannon Morrigan and her husband Drew used an egg donor and surrogate to have their child at a clinic in Delhi, India, they knew the road would be long, but had no idea how rough. Their kids, John and Maizy Morrigan, were born at 32 weeks in India. Stuck in the paperwork limbo of international surrogacy, the Morrigans not only missed the birth but they had to wait nearly two weeks, receiving word of their infants’ health from across the globe.
John died at ten days due to a lack of oxygen. Morrigan heard of his death just as she was on her way to the airport in Seattle, ecstatic to finally be meeting her twins. Days later, she wrote on Facebook: “My son died. The fact that I have a daughter does not change this.”
When Morrigan finally met her surrogate—Mrs. S—the meeting was strained and awkward, full of unspoken emotion.
“The doctors kept beaming at us, almost desperately,” Morrigan said. “’Congratulations on your beautiful daughter’, they said. But my surrogate and I felt anything but celebratory.”
Morrigan said the birth of her children was supposed to be the end of her story, but it has actually forced her to look at surrogacy and all its complexities more carefully. She wanted a story with a happy ending in an industry which has been recently marred by scandals and fraud. Instead, she’s left worrying whether her financial contribution to her surrogate will be enough.
“I left feeling very concerned for her because I get to come home to the U.S., and we have counseling services and a lot of privilege, and while I know that her economic life will be better, I’m not sure she’ll be able to handle this emotionally by herself. She was devastated. She is my son’s mother, too.”
Banned in many parts of the world, commercial surrogacy is available in roughly 14 states in the U.S.—but the cost is more than most parents can afford. According to NerdWallet financial analyst, Mike Anderson, surrogacy in the U.S. costs at least $60,000. For comparison, the median household income in America is just under $52,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Scott Buckley, the director of legal services at Circle Surrogacy, which has facilities in four states in the U.S. and Sweden, said depending on circumstances like egg donation, sperm donation, along with agency and clinic fees, surrogacy on national soil can cost upwards of $120,000. Meanwhile, the price tag for surrogacy in India is regularly cited as under $30,000. Surrogates are reportedly paid $800-$8,000, and clinics and staff pocket the rest. Victoria International IVF Center in India, for example, cites a 2-cycle deal: If the first embryo doesn’t take, the second embryo is implanted at discounted cost. It’s $11,000 the first round, and only $5,000 the second round. These costs vary depending on whether the intended mother is using her own eggs or a donor’s eggs, and whether the couple uses the same surrogate for the second attempt or chooses a new one.
The fact that surrogacy often takes several attempts is a financial consideration. Whether using a U.S. clinic or one abroad, most couples choosing surrogacy as their choice for procreation can see multiple rounds of IVF fail before a surrogate successfully becoming pregnant. Morrigan started her journey in 2012, and only just became a mother through it this October. Each attempt can be costly and frustrating, rendering international surrogacy an even harder decision for couples to make.
“We realized relatively quickly that we did not have the money for a U.S. surrogacy,” said Morrigan. “Our attorney advised us that surrogacy can be a legal minefield here, and told us not to attempt it unless we could afford not only the surrogacy but the legal bills if something went wrong.”
However, Jon and Christy Anderson, co-founders of Expect Miracle Surrogacy and parents through domestic surrogacy, said when travel, accommodations, genetic testing to prove parentage for citizenship, and other bureaucratic issues are taken into account, the $30,000 price skyrockets to about the same cost as a surrogacy in America. The Andersons calculated that all the additional paperwork, international travel, and the possibility of being in political limbo, along with being unable to reach your newly born child make the stress of international surrogacy not worth the discount.
“After at least two international trips and extended stays in a foreign country at American-style hotels, and lost wages for up to three months while you wait to return home after the birth, the costs often average out to being comparable,” said Jon Anderson.
Another woman I met through Morrigan, A.B., was in the middle of what she calls “the hectic bureaucracy of Indian laws.” She laid out her costs as follows: $54,000 already paid to various agencies, egg donor services, and IVF clinics, and another $39,000 to be charged for further IVF treatments, surrogate care, embryo shipment, two flights to Delhi, and completion of Indian paperwork to okay the baby for U.S. citizenship. These numbers don’t yet include the cost of the genetic testing, hospital costs during and after birth, hotel stays, or additional extra paperwork. She estimated that her grand total would be over $100,000. Exhausted by the process, she recently decided to give up despite having spent over $50,000.
Morrigan went through several hoops and delays after birth awaiting her visa approval. She said that while securing citizenship for an American baby born through international surrogacy is messy business, it was easy compared to the other challenges she faced in the surrogacy process.
“Most times, you have to get the child’s birth certificate by going to the consulate and proving through a DNA test that the child is genetically related to a U.S. Citizen,” she explains. “Once that’s verified, you apply for your passport and other travel necessities. Once in the country, you must go to the foreigners registration office (FRRO) where you prove that you have paid all your bills in India, to the surrogate, the hospital, the clinic that provided the IVF, and even the hotel where you are staying. If people are not paid, you don’t get to leave.”
International Fertility Centre, Morrigan’s second company in her surrogacy journey,covered all medical and pregnancy costs in their package and facilitated the entire procedure. She said the entire process, despite hang ups, cost her around $70,000.
“We’re paying our surrogate $12,500, which will allow her to buy a house and put her daughter through private school up to the eighth grade,” Morrigan said. “We made sure the money would be under her name.”
Morrigan had to specifically enforced this because the patriarchal society in India often relegates the payment to a women’s husband. Sometimes, the women participating in commercial surrogacy never see the money at all. Critics of this type of overseas surrogacy say that this process exploits poor women by using their bodies, when they may not understand the full implications of pregnancy, birth, and what responsibilities they are actually undertaking—and therefore not able to give full consent. Morrigan disagrees with this.
“Our surrogate may not have the level of education I do, but she understood the process and was able to decide she wanted to do it,” Morrigan said. “Now it’s up to me to make sure she retains control of the funds she has earned.”
“In the U.S., this issue isn’t being legislated because it’s religiously and politically charged,” Brisman says. “You have Republicans and Democrats pitted against each other, and surrogacy affects such a small percentage of the population, the issue won’t gain them votes if it goes through. So the measures die.”
She contends the regulations in India and Thailand are tightening, but not necessarily in the right way. The India government’s Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, which would provide protection and regulation for surrogates and foreign couples, is currently in the works. But the Bill excludes gay couples.
“They’re third world countries, so even with legalization and regulation, the care there will be deficient in comparison to what you can get in the U.S.,” she said. “There are no quality controls, and the regulations they tightened six months ago only succeeded in cutting out a large population—gay couples—who are in need of this service. Now you have to be in a traditional married situation to be eligible for Indian surrogacy.”
All of this leads to confusion, impossible-to-follow and misleading paperwork trails, lost funds or even outright fraud, as with the now-bankrupt Planet Hospital, Morrigan’s first surrogacy agency.
Some intended parents want nothing to do with their surrogate, as was the case with A.B. When asked why she went overseas for the process, A.B. cited cost as her number one deterrent to a U.S. surrogacy. But she also said that the proximity of the surrogate was a concern: “I want no relationship with the surrogate. I think from the perspective of the surrogate, the day of the birth is the start of a long period of mourning. To the surrogate, having to hand over that baby, is the same trauma as giving up a child for adoption. I don’t want to have a surrogate that is emotional after the fact and keeps trying to contact me to sell me breast milk or ask for photos.”
Morrigan said regardless of location, surrogacy as a process is fraught with fear and outside judgment. “Surrogacy makes people so uncomfortable because it challenges traditional ideas about some very fundamental cultural values, like who has the rights to the child while in-utero and who gets to make decisions in the surrogate’s life as she carries another family’s baby.”
To be sure, surrogacy is a complex issue that requires many players from egg donors to psychologists. Depending on the country, surrogates may be allowed to remain with their family for the duration, or they may be shipped off to secluded areas to ensure proper medical watch and procedures take place. They may be asked to abstain from sex, and if something goes wrong with the fetus, the intended parents may find themselves at odds with the surrogate over abortion issues. It’s a murky, ethically-charged arena with no central governing body holding a flashlight for those on the journey.
As egg donation continues to provide an important option for intended parents to start a family, the success of the egg donor procedure is also an evolving industry. There is no doubt as to the value of egg donation, so justifiable compensation is determined for the women who donate their eggs for this purpose. Egg donation allows assisted reproduction for women who cannot conceive, couples with fertility problems, and single straight men or gay men who wish to have a child.
The financial aspect of egg donation has definitely made it more popular amongst egg donors over the past few years. Although donors have the financial opportunity for extra income, they also feel they are supporting a real cause and connecting in a way that they could not before and may not have otherwise. Egg donation compensates more highly than sperm donation, due to the invasiveness of the procedure, the drugs the donor must take and it being a bit more complex to retrieve healthy eggs for fertilitization. Not every healthy woman is suitable to be a successful egg donor. As of late, the egg donor screening process has become more exclusive as intended parents are seeking eggs donors with more desirable genetics in hopes to produce a child that is more attractive and intelligent.
Egg donor agencies are finding more advanced ways everyday to ensure client success and satisfaction. For intended parents, this process is a huge investment and a life changing experience, so happiness with the results is key. There are many critics of egg donation and surrogacy, who may question the ethical side to this transaction. However, it is more so proving to be a case of supply and demand, reinforcing the idea that egg donation and surrogacy have actual benefits and an obvious function in society, thus adding value to its place in the reproductive marketplace.
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May 2017
Luis Delgado y José Antonio Fernández.
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar: The surrogacy proposals are expected to include a provision that at least one of those involved has to be a genetic parent. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish TimesThe State’s first set of proposed laws to deal with surrogacy are expected to be considered by Cabinet today.
