During our research over the past few weeks, I accidentally contacted an Indian surrogacy agency regarding our surrogacy inquiries. Neelam, from that agency, quickly got back to me and told me that we would be better off looking at surrogacy in the USA. She then proceeded to give me information on this new USA-Mexico hybrid surrogacy process that we might be interested in if we want to reduce cost.
Initially, we wrote it off completely as we thought that the surrogacy will take place in Mexico. I told Neelam that we prefer to have it in the USA for the entire process. A week later Neelam messaged me again to ask if I wanted to know more about it. I decided to find out more if it was any different to what we thought of it and if it was, I would tell her that our decision is made and not to go with it.
What is hybrid surrogacy?
So basically the USA-Mexico hybrid surrogacy process is still surrogacy within the USA but IVF and egg donor programs will take place in Mexico. Egg donors in Mexico will be used instead of those in the USA. Neelam then put me in contact with Geoff Moss last night who is the director of Los Angeles Surrogacy agency based in you guessed it, Los Angeles. We had a quick chat last night and scheduled in a phone call to chat more about this new process. This is what we found out:
Egg donor compensation in the USA is very high but not in Mexico. IVF is also cheaper in Mexico, but the percentage is not as much as comparing surrogate compensation in both countries. LA Surrogacy agency fees are also cheaper than larger scale agencies in the USA. According to Geoff, Los Angeles Surrogacy agency is a boutique agency that takes on a smaller number of clients so he can focus more on each Intended Parents (IP) and their journey through the process – ‘from start to baby’. He literally goes through the entire process with us. He said he will coordinate the surrogate’s flights from the USA to Mexico and back, and liaise closely with Fertility Clinic Cancun for the IVF process, egg donor sourcing, prep and egg retrieval in Mexico. So the surrogate is only flown into Mexico when it is time for embryo transfers. The surrogacy will be covered by the Californian law.
We spoke about costs and all. Had a better understanding of how it all works. Because his agency has only been around for a short time, and we have not heard of the hybrid system we are still wondering if it is the good option because it is cheaper. It is still not as cheap compared to India or Thailand if they were still open to us. Yes, the cost will still be close to US$100,000 but not quite a 6-figure amount.
Geoff did also mention that if we want to have the entire process in the US, he will also be able to facilitate, just that he will be recommending egg donor agencies to us, and his surrogacy fees will still be lower.
Very interesting conversation. We feel that that could be an option but we would like to speak with at least one other US-based surrogacy agency before deciding on which path to go with.
