Surrogacy can help intended parents build their families and surrogates fulfill their financial goals. But, it’s also important to reflect on how surrogacy helps women empower other women.
A recent BBC article touched on this sometimes overlooked part of surrogacy. The moving stories in the piece inspired us to share some of American Surrogacy’s clients’ empowering stories.
When you work with American Surrogacy, the intended parents and surrogate get to choose to help each other, so you’ll have the opportunity of empowering each other’s lives in distinct ways, too. Contact us if you’re ready to start that journey today. But, continue reading to hear a few empowering surrogacy stories.
Why People Choose Surrogacy
People choose surrogacy for diverse reasons. Generally, though, intended parents choose surrogacy to have the opportunity to raise a child of their own. And although many surrogates decide to pursue commercial surrogacy to receive fair compensation for their time and service, they also do so to help a person become a parent.
The following stories are kind, loving reminders about how the surrogacy process helps women empower each other to fulfill their family-building goals.
Fran and Gina’s Story
Fran, a mother of two girls through surrogacy, met Gina, the surrogate who delivered her children, on a UK surrogacy Facebook group Gina runs. Gina became a surrogate to help create “a family for someone else” and started the social media group to help women grow their families through surrogacy independently.
In September 2021, Gina noted that her surrogacy Facebook group had more than 1,000 members and that in 2019, independent groups helped intended families have 40 babies.
Empowering Women Through Surrogacy
Fran chose to pursue surrogacy after finding out her cervical cancer treatment affected her ability to carry a pregnancy to term.
“My consultant told me about a woman like me who was now a mum and she was my goal,” Fran said to the BBC. “I want to put my story out there to show others that normal real-life women get through this and take their own baby home.
“I can’t think of a better way of women empowering women.”
Read all of Fran and Gina’s story here.
More Stories of Women Helping Women
The following stories come from women (and their partners) who have worked with American Surrogacy.
“It Felt More Like a Friendship”
Although Chelsea felt that her family was complete, she loved being pregnant. “I guess that’s where surrogacy started to come into mind,” she said.
Chelsea was excited when she matched with Dave and Melissa and couldn’t wait to get to know them. “We met for the first time through video chat, and we just hit it off so well,” she said.
“You could tell how badly they wanted a baby, and they deserved that. It just felt like a family connection, and it still feels that way.”
Chelsea said her favorite part of the surrogacy experience was seeing the intended parents’ joy.
“I would say my favorite part was seeing how happy Dave and Melissa were when they got to see the ultrasounds of Alden, video chat during doctor’s appointments, hearing his heartbeat, and watching him move around. As a parent, those are really special moments, and I was happy that I got to share that with them.”
“Families are created in different ways,” Melissa added. “To create ours, we had a lot of doctors and a special lady named Chelsea.”
Read all of Chelsea’s story here and Dave and Melissa’s story here.
“Anything That I Wanted, She Wanted”
Lindsey and Shiloh started considering surrogacy after adopting Quinn, their first daughter and then experiencing two adoption disruptions.
They ended up having three embryos left over from their infertility treatments and started to tentatively research surrogacy.
“I was just looking to see what surrogates were available in Kansas, if there were any,” Lindsey said. “I got online and saw that there was a surrogate very close to where my husband and I are both from, and I emailed her, and the rest is history.”
One of the first things that Megan, Lindsey’s surrogate, said to her was: “I’m not in this for the money.”
“When she said that to me, and I knew it was about the connection and giving somebody the gift of life, we had an instant connection.”
Megan added that her surrogacy experience was more than getting pregnant for someone else; it was life-changing.
“I didn’t just have babies for somebody else; I gained an entire family through the whole process,” Megan said. “It was the most rewarding thing in the entire world. I would do it all over again.”
Read all of Lindsey and Shiloh’s story hereand Megan’s story here.
Ready to Start Your Surrogacy Journey?
Our surrogacy specialists are here to answer any questions you may have about matching with intended parents or a surrogate. And, if you want to hear from someone who has completed a surrogacy journey and understands how empowering it is, contact Alicia today.