Building Families Through Surrogacy Since 1993
Helping clients in Ohio and Illinois, throughout the U.S. and around the world.
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Traditional Vs. Gestational Surrogacy

Before you make any final decisions regarding your surrogacy options, you need to gather all the information you can. Based in Ohio, our lawyers and staff at Essig & Evans LLP have been assisting clients with surrogacy and family building needs since 1986. With our experience, we can help you understand the process that will ultimately place you on your child’s birth certificate as a parent.

What Is Traditional Surrogacy?

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate provides the egg. The sperm can come from either the intended father or another donor. The main advantage of traditional surrogacy is that the medical procedures involved are much simpler and, therefore, less expensive. Surrogates may choose home insemination or a physician-assisted insemination depending on the requirements of the applicable state law. The alternative to this process is a gestational surrogacy.

Our lawyers will help you with every aspect of your traditional surrogacy plan, including research into the social and medical background of your surrogate. If you will be parenting a child who is going to be the genetic child of the surrogate, you will need to fully understand your child’s roadmap. There are certain costs typically involved in traditional surrogacy. You will want to budget for the cost of the medical procedures, payment to the surrogate, maternity care, the drafting and negotiation of the contract, and securing the appropriate birth order.

What Is Gestational Surrogacy?

In gestational surrogacy, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is used to fertilize an egg belonging to someone other than the surrogate, and then the created embryo is transferred into the uterus of your chosen surrogate.

With gestational surrogacy and IVF, the mathematical possibilities for family creation are seemingly endless. There are a number of ways in which an embryo can be created, including:

  • Egg and sperm from donors
  • Egg donor and sperm from intended parent
  • Sperm donor and ova from intended parent
  • Egg and sperm from intended parents
  • Donated embryos

While this process is medically more complex and medically more expensive than traditional surrogacy, it does offer more legal assurances. While laws vary from state to state, the law tends to favor gestational surrogacy over traditional surrogacy. For example, if you decide to pursue gestational surrogacy, in most cases you will not have to go through the adoption process.

What Are The Costs Of A Gestational Surrogacy?

You will want to budget for the cost of medical procedures, cost of the surrogate, the drafting and negotiation of the contract and securing the appropriate birth order. There will be maternity expenses, including hospital and doctor fees, court costs and, possibly, DNA testing. The legal costs of gestational surrogacy, however, may be less than the costs of a traditional surrogacy.