Gay fathers’ motivatns for and feelgs about surrogacy as a path to parenthood - PMC

Contents:

• SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL
• GAY PARENTG
• GAY FATHERS’ MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD
• 3 BT COUNTRI FOR GAY COUPLE SURROGACY
• SURROGACY FOR GAY COUPL MA EASY AND AFFORDABLE
• IS SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL A RELIABLE OPTN? SURROGACY LAWS USA
• SURROGACY FOR GAY COUPL
• WHAT IS THE ST OF SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL?
• FAY BUILDG FOR GAY MEN FAQS
• A LIMED MARKET: THE RECMENT OF GAY MEN AS SURROGACY CLIENTS BY THE FERTILY DTRY THE USA

SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL

Surrogacy mak possible for gay upl to fulfill their parentg dreams and expand their fai; however, while sexual orientatn should not have any impact on the surrogacy experience, same-sex upl should keep md the addnal factors such as a state’s regulatory amework, egg donor selectn, and other issu before proceedg. SUMMARY ANSWERMost fathers chose surrogacy bee they nsired adoptn to be a ls sirable and/or accsible path to IS KNOWN ALREADYLtle is known of gay fathers’ motivatns to e surrogacy as a path to parenthood over and above other forms of fay buildg, such as adoptn, and no studi have examed fathers’ satisfactn wh the surrogacy DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONThis study ed a cross-sectnal sign as part of a larger vtigatn of parent–child relatnships and child adjtment 40 gay father surrogacy fai. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSemi-stctured terviews, lastg ~1 h, were nducted the fay home (65%) or over Skype (35%) wh 74 gay fathers (35 geic fathers, 32 non-geic fathers and 7 fathers who did not know or did not disclose who the geic father was), when the children were 3–9 years RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEGeic and non-geic fathers were jt as likely to want to bee parents and had siar motivatns for choosg surrogacy as a path to parenthood.

Due to the high average annual e of the fathers the study, fdgs may not generalize to gay fathers wh lower IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGSIt is often assumed that parents’ primary motivatn for g ART is to have a geic nnectn to the child. Intendg fathers may choose to nceive g gtatnal surrogacy, where an embryo is created g the sperm of one partner and the egg of a donor, which is then transferred to the surrogate, or geic surrogacy, which nceptn occurs g the sperm of one partner and the egg of the is known about the motivatns of gay upl who pursue surrogacy as a path to parenthood. Most gay and lbian adoptive parents choose adoptn as their preferred route to parenthood, ntrast to heterosexual upl who typilly nsir adoptn only after failed attempts at natural and/or assisted reproductn (Jenngs et al., 2014).

GAY PARENTG

A study of gay pre-adoptive upl the USA also found that men were ncerned that surrogacy would be challengg due to the logistil and emotnal challeng n entail and nsired this path to parenthood accsible due to s high st (Goldberg et al., 2012) lbian women and heterosexual upl who created their fai g ART, a key motivatn for dog so was the abily to have a geic relatnship wh the child (Ragoné, 1994; Teman, 2010; Goldberg and Scheib, 2015).

GAY FATHERS’ MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD

The lbian mothers Goldberg and Scheib's (2015) study also had ncerns about the st and the plexy of adoptn, the potential problematic background children may e om and the possibily of enunterg discrimatn and stigma durg the adoptn tendg gay upl have cid on surrogacy as a path to parenthood, they face a cisn as to which father will have a geic nnectn wh the child.

A study of gay fathers of children born by surrogacy reported that the fai of orig were supportive and exced to bee grandparents, wh the equency of ntact and viss creasg followg the birth of children (Bergman et al., 2010). Whether fai of orig react siarly to geic fathers (whose parents and siblgs will have a geic nnectn to the child) vers non-geic fathers (whose parents and siblgs will not) is yet to be prent study explored gay fathers’ motivatns for havg a child through surrogacy and the var cisns volved followg this path to parenthood.

Firstly, surrogacy agenci that specialized workg wh gay men sent rmatn about the study to the fathers their mailg list (N = 18, 45%); sendly, fai were reced at events at which gay fathers were attendance (N = 15, 37. We didn't, and we don't, have a lot of gay iends, but the on who we were iends wh at the time, the were the same people who when [partner] and I cid to get married they were, they seemed to be the least exced, as though we were somehow changg our liv to nform to society's norms a way that they didn't thk was you know necsary… So ironilly was our gay iends who I would say, wasn't that they weren't, but they certaly seemed the least exced about what we were dog.

3 BT COUNTRI FOR GAY COUPLE SURROGACY

A mory of fathers (N = 7, 10%) reported that their iends’ reactns were mixed, wh some fathers scribg ls support om gay than heterosexual iends, or iends and lleagu havg qutns about the ethil aspects of surrogacy. Until the June 2015 Supreme Court cisn regardg marriage equaly (Obergefell vers Hodg), same-sex upl and sgle lbian and gay people uld not legally adopt children some stat the USA (Amerin Psychologil Associatn, 2015).

Eventhough legislatn has changed, legal ambigui rema about send-parent adoptns by lbian and gay partners and the rights of unmarried same-sex upl to accs domtic adoptn (Smallg, 2016) and experienc of discrimatn om child welfare agenci are not unual (Downg et al., 2009; Goldberg et al., 2012). It is therefore unsurprisg that the factors affect men's cisns as they nsir their optns on how to start their the abily to have a geic nnectn to their child was of great value to some gay fathers, was not important to all. As the mean age of the fathers was 47 years and surrogacy has only recently bee a viable route to parenthood (Perks et al., 2016), pecially for gay men, the reactns om fay members and iends are perhaps unsurprisg.

Fathers may also have chosen not to disclose the inty of the geic father to their children, extend fay, iends or acquatanc (Dempsey, 2013; Murphy, 2013; Carone et al., 2016) and therefore the stat of geic relatedns may be study ntribut to the small yet growg lerature that explor the signifince, or signifince, of geic relatedns for gay father surrogacy fai. Premium surrogacy programs that have “everythg One Bundle” may help to save up to $/£/€40k of the budget, even wh a higher price tag that may be between $/£/€70– Couple Surrogacy the Uned Stat In recent years, the Uned Stat has emerged as a surrogacy hub, providg a supportive and legally favorable environment for gay upl seekg to start or expand their fai.

SURROGACY FOR GAY COUPL MA EASY AND AFFORDABLE

Whether volv accsg addnal trials, securg powerful backups, or obtag prehensive verage for var expens, the Uned Stat prents an extensive array of surrogacy programs to acmodate the specific needs of gay upl on their surrogacy journey. The acceleratg boom surrogacy for gay upl…reprents a disturbg sli to the btal exploatn of women who ually e om the velopg world and are often bullied or pimped to sellg their wombs to satisfy the selfish whims of wealthy gay or lbian wterners….

This move, of urse, raised howls of prott om homosexuals who want children, and om some femists who trotted out the old, tired slogan that women should be able to do whatever they want wh their own bodi — even if they are beg thlsly abed and mised. GESTATIONAL SURROGACY: When there is a transfer of embryos a surrogate mother’s womb for pregnancy by g the donors’ eggs and tend parent sperm (one of the gay uple’s sperm), after which the surrogate will act as a rrier for the next ne months to ensure the nourishment and survival of the baby the womb is lled, “Gtatnal Surrogacy”. The surrogacy market the USA plays an important role for gay men wh the fancial rourc to accs the servic, as is currently the only stable, mercial market which there are legal protectns for openly gay men.

Keywords: surrogacy, same-sex parentg, gay fathers, assisted reproductnIntroductnGtatnal surrogacy via egg donatn US-based fertily clics is unrstood to be an creasgly popular route to planned fatherhood for gay men able to afford the servic (Berkowz and Marsigl, 2007, Dempsey, 2013, Greenfeld, 2007). Wh gtatnal surrogacy, a gay male uple is able to arrange for the creatn of a child as a uple, wh the boundari of their relatnship, allowg for geic fatherhood for at least one of the men and an tentnal fatherhood for both men.

IS SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL A RELIABLE OPTN? SURROGACY LAWS USA

As such, geic parenthood offers a safety of legal protectns, which might be particularly signifint for gay men for whom legally regnized stat as (gay) parents has been historilly tenuo (Park et al., 2016). There is a small, rich, qualative and ethnographic lerature on the lived experience of ntemporary gtatnal surrogacy (Berend, 2016, Jabson, 2016), and specifilly on gay men and surrogacy (Bergman et al., 2010, Berkowz, 2012, Berkowz and Marsigl, 2007, Blake et al., 2016, Blake et al., 2017, Dempsey, 2013, Goodfellow, 2015, Lew, 2009, Mchell and Green, 2007, Murphy, 2013, Smietana, 2017, Tuazon-McCheyne, 2010).

Those faiar wh this lerature and/or the anizatn of surrogacy the USA might have an unrstandg of some men's experienc accsg surrogacy servic and/or know of certa clics and surrogacy agenci that ter to gay men. There is a arth of natnal data on gay men as surrogacy clients the USA; one oute of an absence of natnal mographic data on surrogacy (which is not ferally regulated or tracked by any feral agenci or anizatns). In this paper, I exame the ntemporary fertily dtry the USA orr to vtigate how the market may be enuragg (or disuragg) gay men as surrogacy nsumers via an vtigatn of client recment for gay men across fertily clics and surrogacy agenci the USA.

I provi empiril evince for this niche market, and speculate that has the potential to lead to untend nsequenc for gay fay landspe of surrogacy for gay menMy cursy about the fertily dtry's recment of gay men as clients was sparked by a ment ma to me by a nurse at a small clic as I was llectg ethnographic data for a larger rearch project on embryo fate. As I tail my book, Labor of Love: Gtatnal Surrogacy and the Work of Makg Babi (Jabson, 2016: 91), there are surrogat the USA who prefer to match wh gay men orr to avoid workg wh tend mothers, who, they told me, might have lgerg feelgs of loss due to fertily. There are clicians too who told me they prefer not to provi servic for gay men, while others have shown me their robt practic which they directly urt members of the gay muny as experienc llectg ethnographic data the fertily service field drew me to nsir the way which gay men's e of surrogacy the USA may be facilated by certa practners and limed by others, and to seek empiril natnal data on client recment.

SURROGACY FOR GAY COUPL

This impediment n be tied to the ways which cultural unrstandgs of genr and s unrstood meang child rearg have been upled wh discrimatory practic agast gay men, and enacted and staed by social stutns, cludg medice and social servic (Appleby et al., 2012, Bergstrom-Lynch, 2015, Berkowz and Marsigl, 2007, Biblarz and Savci, 2010). Although gay men ‘have been livg fay and k arrangements that clu children for as long as there have been gay men’, the rtrictns agast the open formatn of their fai did not beg to shift until the 1980s, at the same time as velopments assisted reproductive technology (ART) began to make the open formatn of exclive geic gay fatherhood possible (Goodfellow, 2015: 2). Market recment for wealthy fertily clients tersects wh racial stratifitn, to the excln of women of lour – pecially workg class and poor women of lour – although empiril evince pots to creased rat of fertily among this populatn (Briggs, 2017, Greil et al., 2011, Kg and Harrgton Meyer, 1997, Luna and Ler, 2015, Roberts, 1997) this paper, I shift the lens to gay men, askg how genr and sexualy tersect wh market recment.

Existg rearch pots to screeng agast lbian or gay-intified patients reproductive clic settgs (Berkowz, 2012, Berkowz and Marsigl, 2007, Dempsey, 2013, Greenfeld, 2007, Greenfeld, 2015, Greenfeld and Seli, 2011, Gurmank et al., 2005, Johnson, 2012). The potential for such discrimatory practic towards the lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/qutng and others (LGBTQ +) muny has been regnized as an issue by the Ethics Commtee of the Amerin Society for Reproductive Medice (ASRM) (2013: 1524) as intifi ‘nial of accs to fertily servic on the basis of maral stat or sexual orientatn’ as problematic the field.

WHAT IS THE ST OF SURROGACY FOR GAY UPL?

In this paper, I analyse natnal data on the recment of gay men as surrogacy clients orr to add to the growg dialogue on the stratifitn of ART and the ways which genr, sexualy and social class shape the fertily dtry.

Murphy (2013: 1112) poss, however, that webs are not only primary sourc of rmatn on programm for many people, but are particularly important for gay men as they ‘spire potential ers by nstctg a particular image of surrogacy that affirms the aspiratns of gay men to bee parents’.

FAY BUILDG FOR GAY MEN FAQS

Gay men's procreative nscns is enuraged, other words, by seeg imag and readg text supportive of gay fatherhood on clic and agency rearch on clic webs, however, has found a lack of nsistent rmatn and support for gays and lbians.

(2017) found that only slightly more than half of the clic webs they surveyed ntaed LGBT ntent, wh larger clic size and geographic lotn as predictive this paper, I provi a bed ntent analysis of clic webs and surrogacy webs, which, to my knowledge, has not been published prevly, orr to ga a broar unrstandg of the landspe faced by gay men pursug surrogacy.

A LIMED MARKET: THE RECMENT OF GAY MEN AS SURROGACY CLIENTS BY THE FERTILY DTRY THE USA

The foc on men was important my rearch as I found the differentiatn between gay men and the LGBTQ + muny (cludg lbians, bisexual women and transsexuals wh female reproductive ans) to be an important distctn. I surveyed the remag 444 webs, lookg specifilly for culturally telligible ins (such as the rabow flag), imag (such as two men wh a child5) and specific language (such as ‘same-sex fai’) ditg the acceptance of gay men at each clic and agency. I rerd the prence of specific language that dited (or uld be terpreted to dite), as I expla below, that gay men would not be wele the clic or addn to surveyg clic webs, I also analysed the webs of 103 surrogacy agenci the USA.

The publilly available rmatn on clic and agency webs was analysed for s prentatn of surrogacy, specifilly the termology and imag ed, pecially that referrg to tend parents and the scribed procs, for s clivy or exclivy of gay men. The clud rabow ins, pictur of two men and a child, text scribg their servic for gay men, ttimonials om gay upl, or a visible lk, such as ‘same sex parentg’ or ‘gay fay buildg’, that led to a scriptn of servic for gay men. So, while the clics appeared to be lbian-iendly, there were no scriptns, imag or text about surrogacy or egg donatn servic cludg gay men as potential majory of US fertily clics (62%) do not appear to be welg or recg gay men.

Recment of gay men as surrogacy clients via clic and agency geography of surrogacyWhen surveyg fertily clics and surrogacy webs by state, beme obv that fertily servic ( general) the USA clter geographilly.