Hiring someone carrying your child until it is a thriving business. The surrogacy market is expected to expand to $129 billion by 2032, driven by aging parents, rising fertility rates, and same-sex families. Silicon Valley is also contributing to the growth: Tech companies like Google, Meta, and Snap pitch up to $80,000 in six-figure fees for the process.
Yet “renting a womb” (as detractors call it) is still controversial. One United Nations human rights expert said that commercial adoptions “often resemble the sale of children.” Critics say this practice exploits poor women who are not fully informed of these dangers; in fact, the United States is one of the only developed countries that allows pregnancy for gain.
A psychological pregnancy carrier is a stay-at-home mother who wants to earn money without leaving her children. Many substitutes fit that mold, but backgrounds and experiences vary widely. A West Coast native who raised two sets of parents in California and China opens up about what it was like for her.
In 2010, my My best friend died from a drug overdose, and I found his body a few days later. After that trauma, I spent a long time examining my purpose. As a mother, I thought it would be really nice if I could give other people their reason to get up in the morning. I also loved pregnancy: Surrogacy felt like the greatest part-time job in the world.
I went through a rigorous physical and mental test. Then I read tons of files from prospective parents, waiting for that “click.” Finally, I met an older, single guy—let’s call him Greg. As a queer woman, I felt a strong social responsibility to make gay children. Surrogacy is more accessible than adoption. Greg told me, “I’m an elderly, gay, single dad. Do you know how hard it would be for me to take a baby?”
The doctor transferred three embryos to my uterus, hoping to get one, but we got all three. For 13 weeks, all I really did was eat, sleep and raise people. I was healthy, but because of the risks to the babies, Greg finally decided to reduce the triplets to twins.
My doctor gave birth in the operating room in case something went wrong, but I delivered both twins vaginally. Twenty minutes after I pushed them out, I got up from the table, went to bed, and asked for a sandwich.
A few years later, the agency reached out and told me a Chinese couple was giving buckets of money to Scrooge McDuck. I had student loans, so getting pregnant was a financial decision. It has become very popular to have surrogacy done in the US, because the children are automatically citizens. The Chinese couple had chosen girls exclusively for sex, which is a good thing. Those twins were small in nature, so I didn’t feel like I was outdoing the big Clydesdale kids. My parents also asked me to give birth on a certain day since it was lucky. I said, “Okay, whatever you want. I will be eating croissants.”
At six weeks after birth, I would stop pumping breast milk and see the babies. The family made new dumplings for me. It was a very good situation. I still get pictures of the girls.