Defending Gestational Surrogacy: Addressing Misconceptions and Criticisms

This study outlines the case for gestational surrogacy, which is by far the most common form of surrogacy today.1 In this type of surrogacy, the gestational carrier (GC) is not related to the child, and in‐​vitro fertilization (IVF) is used to produce embryos using the intended parent’s (IP’s) genetic material or donor material that is subsequently transferred to the GC.Gestational surrogacy has become more common as the technology has improved, with GC embryo transfer cycles comprising 4.7 percent of all embryo transfer cycles in 2020, up from 2.2 percent in 2011.2 Still, given that only 2 percent of births per year result from IVF, and that GC cycles constitute less than 5 percent of embryo transfer cycles, gestational surrogacy produces a small number of births, perhaps around 4,000 annually.3 Even so, surrogacy has allowed some couples with major fertility challenges to have their own genetically related children.