The Cost of Surrogacy [for Gay Couples]

Surrogacy can be an incredibly validating and rewarding experience for gay couples.

While the costs of surrogacy for gay couples can be a costly endeavor, surrogacy is attainable for your family.

There are many financial resources you can make use of to help lower your cost and advance towards your goals.

If you’re looking for supportive surrogacy partners, contact us today. We can help connect you to compassionate, attentive professionals who can help you grow your family.

How much does it Cost to have a Child as a Gay Couple?

The costs of surrogacy for gay couples average between $150,000 and $179,000+.

These expenses can change based on where you live, the agency you use, and what kind of assistance you have.

These prices can be intimidating, but keep in mind that surrogacy can be a realistic, attainable goal. This will become more and more clear the further you read.

By the end of this, you’ll see that even these high prices aren’t enough to keep you from building the family you’ve always hoped for.

You can learn more about the specific fees involved in surrogacy through this breakdown:

Different agencies will direct your funds differently, which can affect your services and overall price. Here is an example of how an agency may direct your funding:

What is the Cost of Surrogacy with a Donor Egg?

IVF can cost between $16,000 and $30,000 per round, depending on where you live and what services you need. While not directly included in the costs of surrogacy, it may be helpful to begin thinking about IVF and its fee structures.

Most IVF clinics require 6 healthy eggs to begin treatment. The costs associated with obtaining donor eggs can vary from clinic to clinic.

As an example, these breakdowns of egg pricing quote different prices with as much as $14,000 difference between the two.

• CNY Fertility Egg Donation Prices
• Advanced Fertility Egg Donation Prices

Your fertility insurance and employee benefits might help you with this cost.

It’s best to find a surrogacy clinic near you to help create your embryos before finding a surrogate. This can help reduce wait times overall. You can check this page for more information on local IVF clinics, and other surrogacy resources near you. You can also learn more about finding an IVF clinic near me.

If you don’t have an IVF clinic or surrogacy agency near you, you can still grow your family through surrogacy. Reach out to us, and we can help you find the best agency for your specific situation.

How Much Does a Surrogate Mother for Gay Men Cost?

Surrogate costs vary from situation to situation. Your surrogate’s compensation could be anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. Let’s consider some factors that can affect these costs:

• The surrogate’s cost of living: Because the cost of living varies so much from state to state, your surrogacy costs will as well. If your surrogate lives in a particularly expensive or inexpensive state, it will affect your price accordingly.
• The surrogate’s experience: More experienced surrogates have higher rates. This can be due to their proven track record of successful gestation, or because of limited remaining surrogacy pregnancies (most agencies limit surrogates to 4 or 5 births).
• The agency’s treatment of surrogates: Even if it makes the process more expensive in the long run, it’s a good idea to go with agencies that pay surrogates more and provide them with benefits. These kinds of companies attract quality surrogates, reducing wait times and raising the overall chance of success.

How do Gay Couples Afford Surrogacy?

Many financial resources exist for couples fundraising for surrogacy. Most of the time, intended parents use a combination of resources to finance their surrogacy. Two important and fairly accessible resources are grants and loans. We’ll go into depth on grants specific to LGBTQ couples below.

LGBTQ+ Surrogacy Financing Options

Many grant funds exist specifically to help LGBTQ+ parents have biological children. If you’re constructing a financial plan to pay for surrogacy, consider applying for these grant programs:

• Parental Hope
• Baby Quest
• Men Having Babies
• AGC Scholarships
• Reach Fertility
• Journey to Parenthood
• Footsteps to Fertility

This list is specifically for widely available funding. It may be worthwhile to look for more localized grants. For example, the Nest Egg Foundation is a great, LGBTQ friendly grant fund available exclusively to residents of New York and Connecticut.

Will Insurance Cover Gay Surrogacy?

Insurance coverage for surrogacy can vary significantly depending on your policy. Both LGBTQ+ and heterosexual couples may encounter limitations, but insurance companies are not permitted to change their coverage based on sexual orientation.

Some insurance policies will extend your coverage to your surrogate, potentially covering her medical expenses..  However, other plans may exclude your surrogate completely. If this is the case, you’ll need to obtain additional coverage for your surrogate.

If you’re working with a full-service surrogacy agency, they’ll likely help you with this.

How does Surrogacy Work for Gay Parents?

Step 1: Find an Egg Donor and Create an Embryo

Your chosen agency can help you find an egg donor or bank to work with. Once you complete this your fertility clinic can begin creating your embryo.

Step 2: Decide on your Surrogacy Agency

This step is one of the most important. Your choice of agency will affect every other aspect of your surrogacy journey. From wait times to overall cost, this decision will have direct influence on everything related to your surrogacy from here on out.

Step 3: Find a Surrogate

Matching with a surrogate can be a long process, or it could just take a few weeks, depending on your choice of agency. For an official match, most agencies require pre-existing embryos, meaning this step will go much more quickly if embryo creation is completed first.

Step 4: Embryo Transfer

This is the beginning of your medical surrogacy process. You’ll work together with your surrogate and your fertility clinic to complete the IVF process.

Step 5: Two-Week Wait and Pregnancy

After the operation, your surrogate will wait two weeks. Once this time has passed, the clinic will conduct a blood test to confirm the gestation. This can be a frustrating process, and you may need to try a few times before successful implantation.

Once a blood test confirms a successful implantation, Your surrogacy journey may be just 9 months from its conclusion. Pregnancy always carries some risk, but with a highly qualified surrogate and expert medical support, you shouldn’t need to worry too much.

Step 6: Your Child’s Birth and Establishing Parentage

You’ll be able to join your surrogate at the hospital for labor and delivery. This is when you’ll help welcome your child into the world! Be sure to brush up on how to establish parenthood in your home state. Your attorney can help with this.

Surrogacy Resources for Gay Couples

There are a few steps in the surrogacy journey which gay couples may need to pay special attention to. Here are some details you may want to prepare for:

Finding an Egg Donor for Gay Men

Egg donation is a large part of the cost of surrogacy for gay couples. The egg donation process contains a few different steps, each of which needs funding to function. This is extensive, invasive and strenuous for the donor, and culminates in a minor surgery where the eggs are extracted.

During this step in the process, read up on egg donation for LGBTQ+ couples and the factors you might need to consider when choosing an egg donor.

Finding a Surrogate Mother for Gay Men

Finding a surrogate mother could be challenging for some couples, however, modern surrogacy agencies greatly reduce the challenge of this step. Agencies that focus on marketing, recruitment and screening can reduce the complexities and lower your wait times to between 1 and 6 months. Some of these resources might help you with this step:

Working with an LGBTQ+ Friendly Surrogacy Agency

Finding an agency that will match your priorities and adjust their services to meet your needs is important for any couple. Fortunately, finding LGBTQ+ friendly surrogacy services is much easier than it used to be.

Surrogacy agencies provide real benefits to intended parents by:

• Limiting Uncertainty: When you work with a full service agency, you’ll have many of the most worrying factors in a surrogacy looked into, prepped and vetted. With advanced surrogacy screening, agencies get ahead of potential medical and commitment problems, effectively minimizing your risk of a surrogacy interruption.
• Reducing Work Load: Full service agencies take on much of the legal workload required during a surrogacy. Taking care of this paperwork helps free up intended parents to focus on the joy of bringing a child into the world.
• Providing Support: With an agency, your access to experts is unparalleled. You’ll have access to an expert staff all throughout the process.

You don’t need to wait any longer to begin building the family you’ve always hoped for. Contact us today.