American Surrogacy Blog

Losing a partner is an unimaginable tragedy, especially when you were in the midst of planning a future together.

You can honor your partner’s legacy and fulfill your shared promise of parenthood through posthumous reproduction and surrogacy.

You might be ready to begin the matching process today, or you may need help navigating the logistics. Fill out our form to get empathetic, expert-led support from a surrogacy specialist today.

What is Posthumous Reproduction?

Posthumous reproduction is a term used by the medical and legal communities to describe the use of a deceased person’s genetic material, such as sperm, eggs, or embryos, to conceive a child.

For many, it is a way to hold onto a piece of a life cut short and to fulfill the dreams of a family that you and your partner built together.

Protecting Your Partner’s Legacy: Why a Surrogate is Vital in Posthumous Journeys

We understand that in posthumous journeys, your embryos are more than medical assets; they are irreplaceable links to your partner.

Because you may have a limited number of embryos or gametes, the margin for error in the medical process is significantly smaller.

Our screening focuses on surrogates who have successfully carried pregnancies before to maximize the potential of every single transfer.

By choosing a surrogate who has passed a rigorous screening process, you minimize physical variables and give your partner’s genetic material the best possible chance of a successful birth.

Learn how our screening process protects your partner’s genetic legacy.

Understanding the Posthumous Surrogacy Process

If you are ready to move forward, the surrogacy process provides a structured medical and legal framework to bring your child into the world.

By working with an agency, you gain a dedicated specialist who coordinates between your IVF clinic, your surrogate and legal counsel to ensure state laws and clinic protocols are met.

1. Initial Consultation: Contact a surrogacy specialist to review your medical history, existing embryos or gametes, and the legal documentation regarding your partner’s intent.
2. Surrogate Matching: We connect you with pre-screened surrogates. Once you find a match, the surrogate undergoes a final in-person medical evaluation at your clinic to finalize the match.
3. Legal Contracts: Attorneys will draft an agreement that establishes your rights as a single parent and confirms the legal authorization to use your partner’s genetic material.
4. Embryo Transfer: Following legal clearance, the IVF clinic performs the transfer, and your agency specialist coordinates all communication between you, the surrogate, and the medical team.
5. Parentage and Birth: In many states, your attorney will file for a Pre-Birth Order (PBO) during your pregnancy to establish your rights before delivery. In other jurisdictions, a Post-Birth Order or administrative process is used shortly after the birth to achieve the same result.

Preparing for Your Surrogacy Journey

At American Surrogacy, we require intended parents to have viable embryos ready for use before the official match with a surrogate is finalized.

This is a protective measure for both parties; it ensures the surrogate is not waiting on medical procedures that may have uncertain outcomes, and it allows you to move directly into the legal and medical transfer phase once you find the right person.

If You Already Have Embryos

If you and your partner previously created and stored embryos, you are in the best position to begin the matching process immediately.

Connect with a surrogacy specialist today to take the next step.

If You Have Preserved Sperm or Eggs

If you have your partner’s preserved gametes but have not yet created embryos, your first step is working with a clinic to create embryos.

You do not have to wait for embryos to be ready to contact an agency. While you cannot be officially “matched” or medically screened until embryos are viable, you can still complete your surrogacy planning questionnaire and intended parent profile in the meantime.

Starting these steps now ensures that as soon as your embryos are ready, your agency can immediately begin your search for a surrogate.

Navigating the Legal and Ethical Landscape

The legalities of posthumous reproduction vary significantly by state. It is critical to address these three areas immediately:

1. Written Consent: Most clinics and courts require clear, written intent from the deceased partner expressing their desire for their genetic material to be used posthumously.
2. Social Security and Inheritance: Laws regarding whether a posthumously conceived child is considered a legal heir vary. You will need a surrogacy professional to help navigate these “what ifs”.
3. Clinic Policies: Every IVF clinic has different protocols for the release of gametes after a death. Ensure your legal team coordinates directly with your medical providers.

We can help you find a reputable attorney to ensure your partner’s documented wishes are honored by courts and clinics alike.

Navigating Parenthood After Loss

Choosing to pursue parenthood after the loss of a partner is a courageous step that often exists in the space between mourning and hope.

You might be continuing a process you started together or starting a new chapter to honor your shared dreams. It is natural to feel a mix of profound sorrow and quiet excitement during this time.

This journey carries significant weight because of the deep emotional connection to your partner’s genetic material. We recognize that you are fulfilling a promise made to the person you loved.

Our role is to provide a stable, professional environment so you can focus on your emotional wellbeing while we manage the complexities of the surrogacy process for you.

Take the Next Step Toward Your Shared Dream

When you are ready to explore your options, we are here to help.

Would you like to speak with someone who understands the unique nuances of posthumous surrogacy? Speak with a specialist about your specific situation.

Miscarriage with a normal embryo is devastating, but it may point to underlying factors IVF can’t address.

By understanding these issues, you can move away from repeated disappointment and find success with a strategic option like gestational surrogacy.

Are you ready to get closer to your path to parenthood? Connect with a specialist at American Surrogacy today to explore a proven path forward.

The Heartbreak of Hope: Experiencing Miscarriages with Genetically Tested Embryos

The journey to parenthood after facing recurrent pregnancy loss is profoundly difficult. After investing so much in IVF and creating an embryo, receiving news of another miscarriage feels devastating and deeply confusing.

This experience is not a failure on your part, but a sign that the focus needs to shift.

You have faced setbacks beyond your control, but by choosing surrogacy, you are giving your embryos the best opportunity.

Normal Embryos Don’t Guarantee a Successful Pregnancy

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT-A) is an invaluable diagnostic tool in modern IVF. It allows your medical team to check an embryo’s chromosome count before transfer.

An embryo confirmed as “euploid” (or chromosomally normal) has the correct number of chromosomes and is considered the highest quality embryo available.

However, PGT-A does not guarantee pregnancy. A chromosomally normal embryo does not override underlying systemic or uterine health issues within the intended mother’s body.

Hidden Causes of IVF Miscarriages with Normal Embryos: Uterine, Hormonal, and Immune Factors

Recurrent implantation failure or miscarriage with a normal embryo points toward factors that cannot be solved by simply creating another embryo.

These issues are often subtle, requiring specific diagnostic testing and sometimes a change in approach.

Uterine Environment Factors

The endometrium, the lining of the uterus, must be receptive and healthy. Issues in this area can prevent implantation or lead to early loss:

• Endometrial Thickness and Structure: A lining that is too thin, uneven, or structurally abnormal may fail to properly support the embryo. Your doctor may refer to this as a lack of uterine receptivity.
• Endometriosis and Adenomyosis: These common, inflammatory conditions can create a hostile environment that makes implantation and sustained pregnancy extremely difficult.
• Chronic Endometritis (CE): This is a persistent, non-symptomatic inflammation of the endometrial lining, often caused by an underlying bacterial infection.
• Structural Abnormalities: Unidentified polyps, fibroids, or scar tissue (Asherman’s Syndrome) can obstruct implantation or compromise the blood supply necessary for the placenta’s development.

Learn more about uterine health issues that may be making pregnancy impossible.

Autoimmune or Chronic Health Factors

In some cases, the body’s immune system is the barrier. The body may treat the embryo as a foreign object and reject it.

Autoimmune or inflammatory conditions that are not properly managed can create a highly inflamed environment in the body that prevents a pregnancy from starting or growing. These include:

• Lupus: A chronic autoimmune disease that can increase the risk of blood clotting and inflammation, compromising the blood flow needed for the placenta.
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS): While generally not a direct barrier to conception, severe or active MS can indicate systemic inflammation that impacts the immune environment needed for implantation.
• Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: An autoimmune thyroid condition often linked to recurrent miscarriage, as unmanaged thyroid hormones are essential for successful early pregnancy development.
• PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome): While primarily hormonal, it often involves chronic, low-grade inflammation that can negatively affect uterine receptivity and embryo implantation.
• Natural Killer (NK) Cells: While complex and often debated, some specialists believe an overactive presence of these immune cells in the uterus may attack the implanting embryo, treating it as a foreign object.

Learn more about chronic health conditions that may make pregnancy difficult or unsafe.

Hormonal and Timing Factors

Issues with hormones and timing are another barrier to successful implantation.

The uterine lining has a very narrow “window of implantation”, meaning the timing of the embryo transfer must be exact, even with standard hormone medication.

 Specialized tests like the Endometrial Receptivity Assay (ERA) help pinpoint this timing, but repeated failure suggests the window is consistently missed or compromised.

Additionally, a lack of sufficient natural progesterone during the early weeks, known as luteal phase support, can still compromise the lining’s ability to sustain the pregnancy, leading to loss

When to Consider Surrogacy After Multiple Miscarriages with Test Embryos

This decision should be made in consultation with your reproductive endocrinologist.

However, clear emotional and medical triggers often indicate surrogacy is the next strategic step:

• Specific medical barriers. You have received a confirmed diagnosis that your medical team identifies as the primary cause of recurrent loss.
• Your mental health has taken a toll. Surrogacy offers a way to continue the family-building process without the constant physical and emotional strain of repeated failures.
• The cumulative cost of repeated IVF cycles, specialized testing, and experimental treatments may become unsustainable. Surrogacy provides a more predictable investment toward achieving your family goal.
• You have remaining embryos. If you have frozen PGT-tested embryos, using them with a gestational carrier gives them the highest possible chance.

Surrogacy is not a last resort; it is a strategic, medically supported path to success when evidence points to the uterine environment as the barrier.

How Surrogacy Bypasses Uterine Factors That IVF Can’t Solve

When you choose American Surrogacy, we build your journey on the foundation of a thoroughly vetted and medically cleared gestational carrier.

This process is designed to eliminate the gamble of an unpredictable uterine environment and maximize the possibility of a healthy pregnancy.

Our rigorous, multi-step screening ensures you start your journey with confidence:

• Agency Review: We start with an in-depth review of her full medical history and social background.
• Clinic Review: Your fertility clinic reviews her past medical records, focusing on previous pregnancies and deliveries, to confirm a history of successful, healthy births.
• Medical Clearance and Physical Exam: She undergoes a comprehensive physical examination and medical workup at your fertility clinic to confirm her uterus is optimally receptive and structurally sound for a successful transfer and pregnancy.

Other essential clearances we ensure include:

• Psychological Readiness: Confirming she is emotionally and mentally prepared for the journey and understands the unique relationship with you.

By utilizing a gestational carrier who has been carefully and successfully screened through these multiple layers of review, you replace anxiety with certainty, knowing your precious embryo is in the safest possible environment.

Emotional Healing and Moving Forward

The grief, fatigue, and profound sense of failure that accompany recurrent loss are entirely understandable. Even when you know the miscarriage was not your fault, the emotional burden is real.

Surrogacy offers a crucial opportunity for psychological recovery and consciously moving forward with your family-building journey.

Gaining Control: Making an Intentional Choice for Family

Instead of dwelling on past disappointments, surrogacy allows you to pivot your focus on creating your family.

• Move from Strain to Preparation: Surrogacy allows you to move past the physical burden and psychological toll of recurrent IVF failure. You can channel the energy previously spent on treatments into preparing for the baby’s arrival.
• Taking Control: Instead of passively waiting for a diagnostic test or an experimental treatment, you are actively choosing the most successful, medically supported path available to you.
• A Supported Journey: At American Surrogacy, we provide comprehensive support so you can focus on your path to parenthood.

What to Expect When Exploring Surrogacy as a Next Step

The idea of starting the surrogacy process can feel overwhelming, but our agency is here to simplify every step. We offer a clear, efficient path designed to minimize stress and maximize success:

Step 1: Reach Out to a Specialist

Your first step is connecting with a specialist at American Surrogacy. We listen to your unique story, understand your medical history, and help you determine if our program is the right fit.

Step 2: Match with a Surrogate

Based on your preferences, we present you with profiles of pre-screened, medically cleared gestational carriers. Our focused process often leads to quick matches.

Step 3: Complete Legal Contracts

Attorneys work together to create comprehensive, protective legal agreements that establish your parentage.

Step 4: Embryo Transfer

Your reproductive endocrinologist facilitates the transfer of your PGT-tested embryo to the gestational carrier. We support you throughout the entire medical process.

Step 5: Pregnancy and Birth

You remain closely involved throughout the pregnancy, preparing for the day you welcome your child at the hospital.

Ready to Take the Next Step? Explore Surrogacy with Compassion and Clarity

You have faced setbacks beyond your control, but by choosing the strategic path of surrogacy, you are giving your embryos the best opportunity for success.

Surrogacy is not a detour; it is a supported, deliberate choice made by loving parents who refuse to give up on their family dream.

Even with multiple miscarriages, you can still start or grow your family. Contact us to learn how we can support you on your path to parenthood.

IVF is a major emotional and financial commitment. When it doesn’t work, you may feel like the future you imagined is slipping away.

You deserve clear, compassionate guidance about your options.

In this guide, you’ll learn whether you can get your money back for failed IVF, how fertility clinic refund programs work and why some families shift toward surrogacy.

When you’re ready, you can get free information and talk with a surrogacy specialist about what comes next.

Do You Get Your Money Back for Failed IVF?

You may be able to receive a partial refund. Some fertility clinics offer money-back guarantees through “shared risk” programs.

Generally, you’ll need to pay a higher upfront cost in exchange for financial protection if treatment does not result in a live birth.

For example, Shady Grove Fertility’s Shared Risk 100% Refund Program allows qualifying patients to pay one flat, refundable deposit that covers multiple IVF attempts.

You can try up to six IVF or donor-egg cycles, plus unlimited frozen embryo transfers. If you don’t take home a baby or choose to stop treatment, you get your full deposit back.

But there are important limitations:

• You must meet strict medical criteria, including age and ovarian reserve requirements.
• You’ll pay more upfront than traditional per‑cycle fees.
• You receive a refund only on the program deposit — not medications or diagnostic testing.

Programs like this can offer a clearer path forward, but they’re not available for everyone.

Are IVF Refund Programs Worth It?

If you qualify and want predictable costs, these programs can give you a sense of stability during an emotional process.

If you’re unlikely to qualify or prefer paying per cycle, they may not feel right for where you are. At the end of the day, this decision is about caring for your heart as much as your finances.

What Happens Financially If IVF Fails?

A failed cycle can be emotionally and financially devastating. You’ve poured your heart, time and resources into the process while holding onto the hope of growing your family.

When the pregnancy test comes back negative, you’re not just facing a medical outcome, you’re facing the weight of everything you invested.

You may be left carrying medical bills or debt from earlier rounds, which can make the next step feel even heavier. And you typically can’t get insurance to cover IVF failures; most insurance plans don’t cover IVF at all.

Depending on your state and employer, you may have partial coverage for diagnostics or medication, but coverage for full treatment is still limited.

This is often the moment when intended parents step back and re-evaluate whether more IVF cycles make sense.

Why Some Families Choose Surrogacy After Failed IVF

Medical Conditions That Prevent Safe Pregnancy

Some medical conditions, like severe uterine scarring, autoimmune issues or other health factors, make it very difficult to carry a pregnancy safely.

Surrogacy allows you to use your embryos while relying on a gestational surrogate who has been thoroughly screened and cleared to carry a healthy pregnancy.

Overcoming the Emotional Strain of Repeat IVF

After multiple IVF cycles, the emotional weight of hoping, waiting and grieving can become overwhelming. You may want a path with fewer unknowns, a clearer timeline and a higher chance of success.

Shifting to Surrogacy for Financial Predictability

Repeat IVF cycles can add up quickly. For some families, shifting to surrogacy feels like a more predictable and purposeful investment.

Many families go through many IVF cycles before trying something else. But choosing surrogacy isn’t “giving up.”

Rather, it’s an intentional step toward the option that gives you the best chance of becoming a parent.

Surrogacy Is More Expensive. So Why Do People Still Choose It?

Surrogacy is a significant financial investment, but some people consider surrogacy a better investment than repeated IVF.

Here are the benefits that often make surrogacy feel like the stronger path forward:

• Predictable Timeline: With American Surrogacy, many intended parents are matched in 1 - 4 months, helping you move forward faster.
• Higher Likelihood of Success: You work with a gestational surrogate who has been thoroughly screened and medically cleared.
• Structured Process: You experience fewer unexpected hurdles compared to repeated IVF cycles.
• Genetic Connection: You can use your own embryos to maintain a genetic link to your child.

For intended parents who have already been through so much, surrogacy often feels like a stable and structured step toward becoming a parent.

IVF vs. Surrogacy: Which Is More Cost-Effective in the Long Run?

IVF is unpredictable. One cycle might succeed, or you might need several, each costing thousands of dollars.

Surrogacy costs more upfront, but success rates are significantly higher due to medically screened surrogates.

Instead of wondering whether this next cycle will be different, you’re placing your embryo into the healthiest, most stable environment possible.

When you compare the total cost of repeat IVF cycles, the medications, the procedures, the time off work, the emotional toll, many families ultimately spend less through surrogacy than they would after several more IVF attempts.

If your journey ends without a baby and you have no embryos left, certain surrogacy programs (including some at American Surrogacy) also offer partial refunds depending on the package you choose. This adds another layer of financial protection and predictability.

IVF Is Already Part of the Surrogacy Process — Why Risk Paying More?

Even if you choose surrogacy, IVF is still required to create or use existing embryos. That means:

• You’re already investing in IVF.
• Surrogacy ensures your embryo is placed in the healthiest possible environment.
• You can use embryos created from previous IVF cycles.

Using Existing Embryos in Surrogacy: What Are Your Options?

One of the greatest fears intended parents face when transitioning from IVF is the thought of losing the embryos they worked so hard to create.

If you have frozen embryos from previous cycles, they can be used in your surrogacy journey.

The process of using your existing embryos for a gestational surrogacy journey is straightforward:

1. Coordinate Transfer: Our specialists work with your current fertility clinic (where the embryos are stored) to manage the transfer of the genetic material.
2. Medical Clearance: Once you are matched with a thoroughly screened surrogate, your embryos will be transferred into her uterus during an Embryo Transfer Procedure at a fertility clinic.
3. Maintain Connection: Using your existing embryos is how you maintain a genetic connection to your child while transferring the physical demands of pregnancy to your gestational surrogate.

This option protects your emotional and financial investment and allows you to give the embryos you already created the best chance at resulting in a pregnancy.

How Families Afford Surrogacy After IVF Loss

Many intended parents worry about affording surrogacy, especially after the cost of IVF. You have more options than you might think.

American Surrogacy partners with Sunfish, a leading fertility financing platform that offers flexible loans designed specifically for IVF and surrogacy. You can also manage costs through various other methods, including:

• Personal loans
• Fertility or surrogacy grants
• 401(k) withdrawals or loans
• HSA or FSA funds
• Employer benefits for family-building
• Home equity loans
• Crowdfunding

American Surrogacy’s Financial Protection and Refund Eligibility

You deserve a program built to protect your investment in your family-building journey. At American Surrogacy, we offer:

• Transparent Costs: We break down each fee clearly upfront so you can plan confidently without surprise expenses later.
• Unlimited Matching: Our Limited Risk Program offers unlimited rematch attempts at no extra cost
• Possible Refunds: You may be refunded some fees if your journey ends without embryos left to transfer.

Ready to Take the Next Step After IVF?

If you’ve experienced the emotional and financial toll of failed IVF, you deserve a program built to offer financial safeguards for your path to parenthood.

Learn more about our programs’ financial protection by filling out our online form.