While surrogacy is still a very controversial topic, California does have surrogate-friendly laws, allowing couples, both gay and heterosexual, to use a surrogate to have a baby, whether monetarily or altruistically. While it is ultimately the decision of the couple as to whether they want a baby through surrogacy or adoption, there are many reasons to consider a surrogate mother in California.
Reasons
Many times, women are unable to have their own children. In some cases, specific uterus medical problems arise, making it impossible or harmful for a woman’s body to fertilize an egg. If fertilization does occur, a woman may lose the baby (miscarriage) or become morbidly ill if she continues with the pregnancy.
Other times, women are infertile or have extremely rough pregnancies that may result in loss of a child or death to the woman, or have had a hysterectomy to prevent some illness, such as cancer.
In other cases, women have tried multiple times to get pregnant and have followed their doctor’s regulations, only to result in no pregnancy. Sometimes, assisted-reproduction techniques have been used unsuccessfully, as well.
In other cases, the man in the relationship has a low sperm count or otherwise cannot produce enough sperm to create a fetus. While the man in the relationship may not be able to make his wife pregnant, his sperm can still be used to create the fetus outside the womb and then place it into a surrogate mother’s womb.
How to Choose
Many times, families get so depressed about not being able to have a baby and family members will step in to be a surrogate. If you are lucky enough to have found someone inside your family that is willing to help, you will likely need legal counsel and contracts in place before pregnancy occurs.
In California, women are allowed to be surrogates and there are many agencies that can help. Though each agency and state are different in regards to surrogate mother rules, most require the surrogate to be at least 21 and have been pregnant in the past with a healthy child, though she is not required to have kept the child. Other rules that are usually common for surrogates is that the carrier pass a psychological screening, signs a contract that specifies her responsibilities, and have her own non-state-funded insurance that will cover at least half of the expenses.
If you are interested in a surrogate mother in California, you will likely want to consider the Center for Surrogate Parenting, which offers many great surrogates and other support and help.
