Whose Baby Is It? The Complications of Surrogacy

You don’t hear too much about surrogacy unless a celebrity is mentioned in the same breath. While women like Kim Kardashian, Rebel Wilson, Paris Hilton, and Chrissy Teigen have made headlines for hiring a surrogate to carry their baby, celebrities are not the only ones opting to use a surrogate. 

The National Library of Medicine reports that between 1999 and 2013, there were over 30,000 surrogate pregnancies in the U.S. The costs do vary, but when all is said and done, it costs upward of $100,000 to bring a child into the world via surrogate when you factor in lawyer fees, surrogate fees, egg donation, and so on. 

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is the egg donor. In America, the more common form of surrogacy is known as gestational surrogacy, and is when, through in vitro fertilization, or IVF, a fertilized embryo is transferred into the surrogate’s uterus. 

One of the many possible complications of surrogacy was highlighted recently in an unverified Reddit post that recounts a situation between two gay men and the surrogate woman they hired to carry a baby for them. According to the viral post, the surrogate is eight months pregnant and has decided she wants to keep the baby. Now, the gay couple and the surrogate are facing an emotional debate about who will parent the child.

But the complications with surrogacy don’t stop there. When a parent(s) and a surrogate make an agreement, they usually sign a contract that includes a clause that allows the parents to call on the surrogate to have an abortion if they decide during the pregnancy that they no longer want the child. While rare, tragically some surrogates have been forced to abort the baby in her womb because she is bound to the stipulations of the contract she signed. 

On today’s edition of the “Problematic Women” podcast, we discuss the complications of surrogacy and what nations have banned the practice altogether. 

Also on today’s show, we discuss the dangers of AI-generated images and how the porn industry is using and abusing AI technology. Plus, we share why most dating app users are unhappy about their experience on the platforms. And we crown a “Problematic Woman of the Week.” 

Listen to the podcast below: