Hire someone to Carrying your baby to term is a booming business. The surrogacy market is expected to expand to $129 billion by 2032, driven by aging parents, rising infertility and more same-sex families. Silicon Valley is also contributing to the growth, with tech companies like Google, Meta and Snap contributing up to $80,000 to cover the six-figure cost of the process.
However, “renting a womb” (as its detractors call it) remains controversial. One human rights expert The United Nations said commercial surrogacy “typically amounts to the sale of children.” Critics claim the practice exploits poor women who are not fully informed about the dangers; In fact, the United States is one of the only developed countries that allows pregnancy for profit.
The stereotypical gestational carrier is a housewife who wants to earn an income without leaving her children. Many surrogates fit that mold, but backgrounds and experiences vary greatly. A West Coast surrogate who has had two sets of twins for parents in California and China talks about what it’s been like for her.
In 2010, my My best friend died of an accidental overdose and I found his body a few days later. After that trauma, I went through a long period of examining my purpose. As a mom, I thought it would be great to be able to give other people their reasons for getting up in the morning. I also loved being pregnant – surrogacy seemed like the best part-time job in the world.
I went through rigorous physical and psychological tests. Then I read tons of files from expectant parents, waiting for that “click.” Finally, I met an older, single guy: let’s call him Greg. As a queer woman, I felt a strong communal obligation to have babies for gay people. Surrogacy may be more accessible than adoption for some people. Greg told me, “I’m an older, gay, single father. Do you know how difficult it would be for me to adopt a baby?
The doctor transferred three embryos into my uterus, expecting one, but we got all three. For 13 weeks, literally all I did was eat, sleep, and grow humans. I was healthy, but because of the risks to the babies, Greg ultimately decided to reduce the triplets to twins.
My doctor had me give birth in the operating room in case something went wrong, but I gave birth to both twins vaginally. Twenty minutes after taking them out, I got up from the table, walked to the bed, and ordered a sandwich.
A few years later, an agency reached out and told me that a couple in China was offering buckets of money to Scrooge McDuck. I had student loans, so pregnancy was a purely monetary decision. Surrogacy has become very popular in the US because babies are automatically citizens. The Chinese couple had specifically selected the sex for the girls, which was great. Those twins were naturally a little smaller, so I didn’t feel like I was carrying giant baby Clydesdales. The parents also asked me to give birth on a certain day as it was lucky. I was like, “Okay, whatever you want. “I’m just going to eat croissants.”
For six weeks after birth, I would pump breast milk and see the babies. The family prepared fresh dumplings for me. It was a very nice situation. I still get pictures of the girls.