Where is international surrogacy still legal?
Travelling abroad for surrogacy is for many couples the only solution to have a family. But now, with India, Thailand and Mexico closing their doors to foreign people coming for surrogacy, there are only a few windows for those who want to have a child.
The first attested case of surrogacy goes back to the 1970s, being also the first legal surrogacy agreement was enacted in New Jersey. Over the years surrogacy has become a more successful procedure and process, being a solution not only for heterosexual couples with infertility problems, but also for gay couples and single men and women who want to become parents.
What is surrogacy?
Through surrogacy a woman (known as surrogate mother) accepts to carry and give birth to a child for another couple or person. The surrogate gives up all her rights upon that child. There are two types of surrogacy:
Traditional surrogacy. The surrogate is artificially inseminated with the father's sperm. She then carries the baby and delivers it for the parents to raise. A traditional surrogate is the baby's biological mother, because it was her egg that was fertilized by the father's sperm. Donor sperm can also be used for a traditional surrogacy.
Gestational surrogacy. In Vitro Fertilization makes it possible to harvest eggs from the mother, fertilize them with sperm from the father, and place the embryo into the uterus of a gestational surrogate. A gestational surrogate has no genetic ties to the child. That's because it wasn't her egg that was used. A gestational surrogate is called the "birth mother" but the biological mother is the woman whose egg was fertilized.
Because the contract for traditional surrogacy is more complex (the surrogate has to give up her rights upon the child, who will be adopted by the intended parents) and because many couples do not want the surrogate mother to be linked to the child in any way, most of them choose gestational surrogacy. When one of both intended parents have fertility issues so no eggs or no sperm can be used from them, they have the option to choose an egg or a sperm donor.
In the US the price for surrogacy varies from $80,000 to $120,000 and the cost is determined by a wide range of factors such as: medical insurance for the surrogate, if the parents have to buy a surrogacy-pregnancy policy for her, medication, tests for the surrogate, etc.
Surrogacy abroad
Over the last years many people chose to cross the border to have access to affordable surrogacy and laws that made the entire process really easy. For example people in the UK choose surrogacy abroad because in their country the law allows surrogates to change their mind at any point and decide to keep the child they are carrying, while in the US the prices are excruciating (sometimes even more than $150,000).
The most important destinations for surrogacy were Mexico, India, Thailand, Georgia, Nepal, Ukraine, Russia, UK and some states in the US.
Thailand closed its doors to foreigners coming here for surrogacy after the baby Gammy case, the child born with Down's syndrome who was not wanted by the Australian intended parents, who took only his healthy twin sister back home.
The state of Tabasco, Mexico banned surrogacy, limiting the service only to local couples. Their decision was made to avoid impoverished women in the country from being exploited.
The Nepali Supreme court has issued an injunction suspending surrogacy for foreigners across the country, because there are currently no laws regarding surrogacy, raising many constitutional and legal questions.
The Indian government has also considered that poor, illiterate women are being exploited, banning surrogacy for foreigners, but allowing it for locals. Over the past years many surrogacy clinics were opened, turning this process into an unregulated business.
