Mobility in North American Surrogacy

The United States is a bastion of commercial surrogacy. Intended parents from all over the globe travel to the United States seeking to build a family. However, they must navigate a complicated, convoluted industry that consists of hundreds of fertility clinics, surrogacy, and egg donor agencies, as well as new forms of business that have appeared to ease the efficiency of a long, drawn-out process. Mobility in North American Surrogacy: A Fertile Global Industry examines the multiple players involved in global surrogacy contracts between international intended parents who opt to create a family with the help and labor of surrogates from the United States. This market remains the final frontier of commercial surrogacy, while other reproductive hubs only allow for altruistic surrogacy. The author considers the mobility and immobility experienced by intended parents, egg donors, surrogates, and professionals whose intimate labor fosters connections across economic, geographic, and social divisions. Based on four years of ethnographic research that also spans the globe, the author argues for a more nuanced consideration of the ethics of surrogacy.