Military wives targeted by agencies
America, not India,
is the world’s surrogacy Mecca, says a cover story in Newsweek.
No one knows how many surrogate births took place in the US last
year, but “industry experts” estimate that there must be at least
1,000. Couples come from all over the world — Iceland, France,
Japan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Australia, Spain and Dubai, for
starters. In many countries, surrogacy is banned, including much of
Europe. Even in the US surrogacy contracts are not enforceable in
many states. But in more than a dozen, it is legal and regulated,
including Pennslyvania, Massachusetts and California.

Newsweek
found that many American surrogates are military wives. Their
husbands are overseas on duty; they have excellent medical coverage;
and they need the money. They are targeted by surrogacy agencies with
leaflet drops around military bases and advertisements in base
publications. "Military wives can’t sink their teeth into a
career because they have to move around so much," says one
broker. "But they still want to contribute, do something
positive. And being a carrier only takes a year—that gives them
enough time between postings." The women can earn more with one
pregnancy than their husband’s base pay for a year. ~ Newsweek,
Apr 7

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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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