Surrogacy has become another light in the middle of its controversy, especially for those who wish to be a mother but unable to get pregnant due to some reasons. For them, surrogacy is the best way to get the baby and being the biological mother of it. That's why today, more people are going for surrogacy rather than adopting a baby. However, the cost can be really expensive, even though it is basically varied to different agencies and procedure you wish to take. Going through a surrogacy as the intended party basically puts you as the prime donator for almost all expenses the surrogate mother as long as they're related to pregnancy. Overall, here are some basic surrogate mother costs you need to consider before going for surrogacy.
The first one is certainly surrogate cost. There are two main ways of surrogacy, traditional and gestational surrogacy. The traditional tends to be cheaper as the procedure doesn't only involve IVF cycle, as there are home insemination and IUI cycle options. Meanwhile, gestational surrogacy only undergo IVF cycle, which the most expensive procedure among the three. However, going through insemination in traditional surrogacy means you let the surrogate mother become the biological mother of your prospective baby, as the sperm will be injected into her egg. It explains why lots of mother prefers IVF cycle. The cost of IVF cycle takes at least $20,000. This cost doesn't include egg donor procedure which usually costs up to $22,500 in total, including insurance and medical evaluations.
The second one is legal fees. You need legal attorney at least for contract and direct agreement between both parties. It takes around $5,000 per procedure. However, during the surrogacy process, you may need additional legal services that can assist in every procedure. After the birth, a lot of thing may happen like the legal custody over the baby matter, accident and unusual cases like multiple births, miscarriage, escrow, and any other else. The cost is multiplied in regard of your need of legal assistance.
The third one is evaluation fee. There are a lot of evaluations that both parties, especially the surrogate mother needs to undergo. Before deciding to go to surrogacy, you and surrogate mother need to at least take psychological and medical evaluation, such as STDs check, DNA check and any other else. Don't forget that the surrogate mother will have their periodical pregnancy check that will become more frequent the closer the birth is. Additional check and evaluation may be needed due to your own awareness and worry as well. Following medical expense like bed rest after giving a birth will be taken into your account too. It takes up to $1,500 for every evaluation.
The last one is agency fees, if you engage with the agency. Basically, the cost you need to pay for the agency fee has included all the cost above added with agency service fee. Normally, agency service will charge client around $18,000-20,000, which is really varied according to their own rates. International applicant needs to pay extra charge to apply.