The practice of using a surrogate to have a baby was once a rare occurrence but has now become more common in the United States. A woman acting as a surrogate can make tens of thousands of dollars, while a couple paying for surrogacy may spend upwards of $100,000 when you calculate the surrogate’s medical care and expenses, plus the agency’s fees.
While we live in one of the most surrogacy-friendly countries in the world, there is still no federal law that provides uniform regulation. Currently, each state is responsible for creating their own surrogacy laws, with some being friendlier to the process than others. For instance, Illinois has mandated gestational surrogacy a legal, and regulated process…yet in the nearby state of Michigan, laws prohibit paid surrogacy and claim that all surrogacy contracts are unenforceable.