Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman agrees to carry and give birth to another person’s child, and then hand over physical custody of the child after birth. This arrangement is typically entered into by those who are unable or unwilling to carry a pregnancy themselves but may also be entered into by biological parents who want to experience pregnancy without risks to their own health or ability to bear children.
The surrogates are paid for their services. Of course, the amount they are paid varies depending on multiple factors. Let’s have a look at the factors and categories that decide the payment a surrogate mother will receive.
Base Compensation
Surrogate pregnancy pay is a form of compensation that is given to the surrogate mother. It is paid in the form of money and/or other benefits. The base compensation involved in surrogate pregnancy pay can vary depending on the country, state, or region that you are in.
For instance, in some countries like India and Nepal, surrogates are paid around $10-12 per day for carrying a baby which can be as high as $5000 for a full-term pregnancy. In other countries like America and Canada, surrogates are given around $30-40 per day for carrying the baby which can be as high as $20,000-25,000 for a full-term pregnancy.
The surrogate mother cost can be as much as they are able to afford and the more they need, the higher their compensation is. Some surrogate parents may even offer up to a year’s worth of surrogate pay in advance which gives them a lot of financial security and peace of mind.
Customary expenses
The intended parents will be responsible for the surrogate’s living arrangements, medical care, travel, food, and other expenses.
– Living arrangements: the intended parents will have to provide a place to live for the surrogate. The place should be comfortable and near hospitals. They also need to provide enough space for the surrogate’s spouse or partner and their children if any.
– Medical care: depending on whether the surrogate is covered by insurance or not, the intended parents may need to cover some of her medical expenses or get a health insurance policy for her.
– Travel: if she is not able to travel without restrictions due to her pregnancy, then they may have to pay for her transportation costs so she can attend doctor’s appointments in person.
– Food: they should make sure that she has access to healthy food options at all times (especially during pregnancy). This includes making sure that there are enough groceries in their home as well as nearby stores with healthy food options available.
– Prenatal Vitamins: Prenatal vitamins are needed for the health of pregnant women and their babies. The main reason for this is that pregnancy can lead to nutritional deficiencies, which can have adverse effects on both the mother and child. Prenatal vitamins come in various forms including pills, liquids, gummies, or chewables. They usually contain folic acid, calcium, iron, zinc, and various B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin and thiamine. The cost of these health supplies is to be taken care of by the intended parents.
– Phone bills: Though this might not amount to much but sometimes the surrogates can also ask for their phone bills to be compensated. They have to make a number of calls to the agency or the clinic in order to get appointments or to get queries answered.
– Legal costs: Legal costs may vary depending on where you live. Some states require that you sign an agreement with your surrogate before starting the process while others allow surrogates to be compensated for their work after delivery.
– Psychological costs: Psychological costs may include paying for counseling sessions or therapy sessions for both parties involved in the surrogacy process.
Experience counts
The experience of a surrogate plays a huge role in determining how much does a surrogate cost including compensation.
An experienced surrogate will have a higher number of healthy babies delivered. That means that they are more probable to produce yet another healthy baby. This gives a lot of faith to the intended parents and they usually agree to pay these surrogates a higher fee.
Women who are new surrogates might not be able to ask for such a fee due to their lack of experience.
Surrogate mother is not an easy job. The woman who is willing to be a surrogate mother must be very committed and strong-willed. She has to put her own life on hold for nine months and she must be ready to give up the baby after the birth. This calls for some heavy compensation from the side of the intended parents. The aforementioned points might shed some light on the various factors that come into play when deciding the compensation and fee of surrogates.
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