How the Covid Pandemic Led to a Replacement Shortage in the US

He founded the agency so others could have more transparency about the surrogacy process.

Mr Amir and his husband Mike Gowen have used surrogates twice and are now beginning their third process with one.

They paid a total of about $200,000 for their first surrogacy in 2017: $35,000 for egg donor screening fees, one egg donation, egg donor insurance, the egg donor agency fee, travel expenses, and legal fees; US$35,000 for IVF, including egg retrieval, embryo creation and embryo transfer; and more than $120,000 for the surrogacy process, which included $35,000 in compensation to the surrogate, plus the surrogate agency fee, surrogate insurance, attorney fees, verification, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous fees. The second time, in September 2020, they paid $150,000 through a different agency.

Mr. Amir, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, said his relationship with his surrogate mothers has always been very important to him. “We FaceTimed a lot and talked on the phone as much as we could,” he said. “But because of the distance” – the first surrogate lived in Ohio; the second in Tennessee — “and Covid on the second trip, we only first met in person when our babies were born.”

And because surrogacy for same-sex couples isn’t legal in many other countries that otherwise allow it, helping a gay couple is a calling for some.

Shea Eschman, a photographer living in Yukon, Oklahoma, is expecting twins for a gay couple living in Italy on July 4th. Ms Eschman, who has a 4-year-old daughter, had been spending time on social media speaking to others about possible surrogacy as she struggled to father her daughter. Now, she said, she wants to help people who are unable to have children on their own.

“I look forward to giving them their dream family,” said Ms. Eschman. “They wanted twins, and that’s exactly what they’re getting.”