When couples experience trouble conceiving a child, they may turn to surrogacy. The overarching question, “ How expensive is surrogacy?” can surprise some people because it can cost more than artificial insemination. Using a surrogate to deliver a child can cost between $75,000 and $100,000, as this video explains.
Although surrogates receive about $30,000 for carrying the child to term, the parents cover other costs, too.
They may need to obtain health insurance for the surrogate and cover court costs for the paperwork designating the child’s intended birth parents. The intended parents may cover other costs, too.
Typically, couples turn to surrogacy as a solution following miscarriages or stillbirths. A doctor combines healthy sperm and a healthy egg in a laboratory, then implants the viable embryo in the surrogate mother. The child grows inside the healthy womb of the surrogate, who gives birth either naturally or via Caesarian, also called a C-section.
The intended parents get to experience the pregnancy as it progresses, attending doctor’s appointments, ultrasounds, and other pregnancy milestones. This process provides them with many of the highlights of a traditional pregnancy and allows them to someday relate to their child’s stories of them kicking in the womb, the excitement of seeing their ultrasound photos, and what food they craved during their time in the womb. The hand-in-hand process provides the experience of “being there.”
With a gestational surrogate, the baby only has the DNA of the intended mother and father. The child will biologically share the intended parents’ DNA and none of the surrogate mother’s DNA. This option offers the closest thing to a traditional pregnancy as possible for some individuals who cannot carry a child to term or become pregnant.
