What is Surrogacy?
Surrogacy is a collaborative pregnancy between intended parents and a surrogate, who becomes pregnant through an embryo transfer. Once the baby is born, the intended parents assume all legal parental rights, and the surrogate is compensated.
Are Surrogates Genetically Related to the Baby?
There are two types of surrogacy: gestational and traditional.
In gestational surrogacy, the intended mother’s egg or a donor’s egg is used, fertilized and transferred to the surrogate. In this scenario, the surrogate has no genetic relation to the baby.
In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate’s egg is used and is artificially inseminated by the intended father’s sperm or a sperm donor’s. In this scenario, the surrogate would be the biological mother of the child.
American Surrogacy currently only completes gestational surrogacies.
Who are Intended Parents?
Intended parents come in all ages, races, sexual orientations and situations, and are simply unable to have a child without some help. They may be infertile, they may be a same-sex couple, they may be single parents, they may be older, or they may just suffer from at-risk pregnancies.
Who are Surrogates?
Like intended parents, surrogates also come in all ages, races and situations, and want to do something special for hopeful parents. Some have no experience in surrogacy, while others have helped several parents grow their families through surrogacy.
Do Surrogates Have to Meet Certain Requirements?
Our job is to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of everyone involved, and this begins with the surrogate.
American Surrogacy screens all of our surrogates, as well as our intended parents, to make sure they are good candidates for surrogacy before accepting them into our program.
How Do Surrogates and Intended Parents Become Matched?
Unlike in today’s adoptions where a birth mother chooses an adoptive family, in surrogacy the intended parents usually select the surrogate. However, the surrogate must share mutual interest before a match is made.
Both parties will have their own profile and video profile, if applicable (exclusive to American Surrogacy), which helps them get to know one another better before taking the next step toward a match.
If both parties agree to move forward, we will begin the legal process. If one or both parties decide it isn’t a good fit, we will explore other options.
How Much Contact Does a Surrogate and the Intended Parents Share with One Another?
A surrogate and intended parents can have as much or as little contact with each other as they feel comfortable with.
Before they are officially matched, the two parties will most always connect either over the phone or in person to make sure it’s a good fit. They will also usually interact at the hospital. Any other contact in between is up to the surrogate and intended parents, and may include phone calls, email and visits.
American Surrogacy can mediate as much or as little contact as the two parties feel is necessary, and this contact often lasts well after the surrogacy is completed.
How Does a Surrogate Get Compensated, and How Much?
Because of the health risks and life changes involved in pregnancy, surrogates are generously compensated in two ways.
First, upon signing the contracts, a surrogate will begin receiving a monthly allowance to help cover some of her food expenses, maternity clothes and any travel expenses.
Next, once a healthy pregnancy is confirmed by an obstetrician, the base compensation payments will begin. This base compensation starts at our competitive minimum rate and increases depending on the surrogate’s experience, state of residence and other factors.
American Surrogacy works with a third-party escrow account service to safely and securely deliver these monthly payments.