Is hardship because of the GFC? Or an entrepreneurial spirit? Or a sympathetic legal system? Whatever it is, Illinois women have discovered surrogate motherhood for international clients.

Is hardship because of the GFC? Or an
entrepreneurial spirit? Or a sympathetic legal system? Whatever it is, Illinois
women have discovered surrogate motherhood for international clients. At least
two dozen babies were born this way in 2010 in the state, which has one of the
most surrogacy-friendly laws in the US. The Chicago Tribune estimates that half
of the 1,400 babies born to surrogate mothers in the US last year were for
overseas clients.

Laurie Thompson, a 34-year-old married
mother of 3, told the Chicago Tribune about her two experiences as a surrogate
– for a same-sex couple from Spain and an ageing couple from Serbia. She
preferred international clients as local people tend to micromanage the
pregnancy. She was paid between US$20,000 and $25,000 plus expenses.

Her
own children had questions, of course. “God’s given us a gift,”
Thompson told her daughters. “I’m able to have a baby for somebody else.
The baby is not going to come home and live with us… Mommy’s just helping
out.” She didn’t want to get attached to the child. “This isn’t my kid,
there’s nothing biological,” she told the Tribune. “I’m pretty much just the
incubator.” ~ Chicago Tribune, Apr 13

Michael Cook
surrogacy

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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