Overseas options look cheaper on paper, but they don't account for fraud, travel costs, and legal headaches that inevitably arise.
海外代孕在纸面上看起来更便宜，但它们没有考虑到难以杜绝的代孕欺诈，旅行费用和代孕法律问题。
When Rhyannon Morrigan and her husband Drew used an egg donor and surrogate to have their child at a clinic in Delhi, India, they knew the road would be long, but had no idea how rough. Their kids, John and Maizy Morrigan, were born at 32 weeks in India. Stuck in the paperwork limbo of international surrogacy, the Morrigans not only missed the birth but they had to wait nearly two weeks, receiving word of their infants’ health from across the globe.
当Rhyannon Morrigan和她的丈夫Drew通过一个捐卵者和中介将他们的孩子带到印度德里的一家诊所时，他们知道这条路很长，但不知道有多艰难。他们的孩子John和Maizy Morrigan在印度出生32周。在国际代孕的文书工作中，Morrigans不仅错过了出生，而且他们不得不等待将近两周，从地球另一端关注他的孩子的健康状况。
John died at ten days due to a lack of oxygen. Morrigan heard of his death just as she was on her way to the airport in Seattle, ecstatic to finally be meeting her twins. Days later, she wrote on Facebook: “My son died. The fact that I have a daughter does not change this.”
十天后，约翰由于缺氧而去世。Morrigan在去西雅图机场途中听到了他的死讯，高兴的是他终于见到了她的双胞胎。几天后，她在Facebook上写道：“我的儿子去世了。我有了一个女儿，但并没有改变我儿子已经去世的事实。“
When Morrigan finally met her surrogate—Mrs. S—the meeting was strained and awkward, full of unspoken emotion.
当莫里根终于遇到了她的代孕妈妈 - Mrs.S-这次会面紧张而尴尬，充满了说不出的情绪。
“The doctors kept beaming at us, almost desperately,” Morrigan said. “'Congratulations on your beautiful daughter', they said. But my surrogate and I felt anything but celebratory.”
“医生们几乎拼命地向我们发出警告，”莫里根说。他们说：“'祝贺你漂亮的女儿'。但我的代理人和我感受到所有事情，除了庆祝。”
Morrigan said the birth of her children was supposed to be the end of her story, but it has actually forced her to look at surrogacy and all its complexities more carefully. She wanted a story with a happy ending in an industry which has been . recently marred by scandals and fraud. Instead, she’s left worrying whether her financial contribution to her surrogate will be enough.
莫里根说，她的孩子的出生应该是她故事的结束，但实际上却迫使她更仔细地看待代孕及代孕所有复杂情况。她想要一个在最近被丑闻和欺诈所破坏的代孕行业中得到美好结局的故事。相反，她担心对她的代孕妈妈的经济贡献是否足够。
“I left feeling very concerned for her because I get to come home to the U.S., and we have counseling services and a lot of privilege, and while I know that her economic life will be better, I’m not sure she’ll be able to handle this emotionally by herself. She was devastated. She is my son’s mother, too.”
“我非常担心她，因为我回到了美国，我们有咨询服务和很多特权，虽然我知道她的经济生活会更好，但我不确定她会不会能够自己应对一些情绪。她的感情上被压垮了，被她也是我儿子的母亲。“
Banned in many parts of the world, commercial surrogacy is available in roughly 14 states in the U.S.—but the cost is more than most parents can afford. According to NerdWallet financial analyst, Mike Anderson, surrogacy in the U.S. costs at least $110,000. For comparison, the median household income in America is just under $52,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
代孕在世界许多地方被禁止，美国大约有14个州可以商业代孕- 但成本高于大多数父母所能承担的费用。根据NerdWallet金融分析师迈克安德森的说法，美国的代孕费用至少为11万美元。根据美国人口普查局的数据，相比之下，美国家庭收入中位数略低于52,000美元。
Scott Buckley, the director of legal services at Circle Surrogacy, which has facilities in four states in the U.S. and Sweden, said depending on circumstances like egg donation, sperm donation, along with agency and clinic fees, surrogacy on national soil can cost upwards of $200,000. Victoria International IVF Center in India, for example, cites a 2-cycle deal: If the first embryo doesn’t take, the second embryo is implanted at discounted cost. It's $15,000-$20,000 the first round, and only $5,000 the second round. These costs vary depending on whether the intended mother is using her own eggs or a donor’s eggs, and whether the couple uses the same surrogate for the second attempt or chooses a new one.
Circle Surrogacy的法律服务主管斯科特·巴克利（Scott Buckley）在美国和瑞典的四个州都设有办事处，她说，根据卵子捐赠，精子捐赠以及代孕妈妈和诊所费用等情况，在全国范围内的代孕可能会花费超过200,000美元。与此同时，印度代孕的价格定为低于80,000美元。印度维多利亚国际IVF中心的例子，一个2周期的代孕合约：如果第一个胚胎不可用，则移植第二个胚胎以折扣价格。第一轮是15,000到20,000美元，第二轮只有5,000美元。这些费用取决于孩子将来的母亲是否使用自己的卵子还是捐卵者的卵子，以及这对夫妇是否使用相同的备份胚胎进行第二次移植尝试，还是选择新的胚胎。
The fact that surrogacy often takes several attempts is a financial consideration. Whether using a U.S. clinic or one abroad, most couples choosing surrogacy as their choice for procreation can see multiple rounds of IVF fail before a surrogate successfully becoming pregnant. Morrigan started her journey in 2015, and only just became a mother through it last October. Each attempt can be costly and frustrating, rendering international surrogacy an even harder decision for couples to make.
经济上需要考虑代孕经常需要多次胚胎移植尝试的事实。无论是美国诊所还是国外诊所，大多数选择代孕作为生育方式的夫妇都会在代孕成功怀孕之前经历多次IVF失败。Morrigan在2015年开始了她的代云之旅，并且去年10月才成为了母亲。每次代孕尝试都是昂贵和令人沮丧的，这使得国际代孕对于夫妻来说是一个更难的决定。
“We realized relatively quickly that we did not have the money for a U.S. surrogacy,” said Morrigan. “Our attorney advised us that surrogacy can be a legal minefield here, and told us not to attempt it unless we could afford not only the surrogacy but the legal bills if something went wrong.”
“我们很快意识到，我们没有钱在美国代孕，”莫里根说。“我们的律师告诉我们，在美国代孕可能是一个合法的雷区，并告诉我们不要尝试，除非我们不仅能够负担的起代孕，而且如果出现问题还能够支付代孕相关的法律费用。”
However, Jon and Christy Anderson, co-founders of Expect Miracle Surrogacy and parents through domestic surrogacy, said when travel, accommodations, genetic testing to prove parentage for citizenship, and other bureaucratic issues are taken into account, the $80,000 price skyrockets to about the same cost as a surrogacy in America. The Andersons calculated that all the additional paperwork, international travel, and the possibility of being in political limbo, along with being unable to reach your newly born child make the stress of international surrogacy not worth the discount.
然而，Expect Miracle Surrogacy的共同创始人乔恩和克里斯蒂安德森以及一些在美国国内代孕的父母表示，算上旅行，住宿，基因测试证明孩子的公民身份，以及其他政府官僚问题被考虑在内后，8万美元的价格暴涨至约与美国代孕相同的费用。Andersons计算出所有额外的文件工作，国际旅行，以及处于政治边缘的可能性，以及无法接触到你刚出生的孩子，使得国际代孕没什么便宜的。
“After at least two international trips and extended stays in a foreign country at American-style hotels, and lost wages for up to three months while you wait to return home after the birth, the costs often average out to being comparable,” said Jon Anderson.
“至少需要两次国际旅行并在外国长期停留，并且在您等到孩子出生后等待返回家园时，工资损失长达三个月，花费通常很大，”乔恩说。安德森。
印度代孕
Another woman I met through Morrigan, A.B., was in the middle of what she calls “the hectic bureaucracy of Indian laws.” She laid out her costs as follows: $74,000 already paid to various agencies, egg donor services, and IVF clinics, and another $49,000 to be charged for further IVF treatments, surrogate care, embryo shipment, two flights to Delhi, and completion of Indian paperwork to okay the baby for U.S. citizenship. These numbers don’t yet include the cost of the genetic testing, hospital costs during and after birth, hotel stays, or additional extra paperwork. She estimated that her grand total would be over $160,000. Exhausted by the process, she recently decided to give up despite having spent over $80,000.
我在宾夕法尼亚州，Morrigan遇到的另一位女士正陷入她称之为“印度法律繁琐的官僚机构”的中。她将费用计算如下：已经向各种机构，卵子捐赠服务和IVF诊所支付了74,000美元，以及另外49,000美元将用于进一步的IVF治疗，代孕妈妈的护理，胚胎移植，两次飞往德里的航班机票以及完成印度手续工作以使婴儿获得美国公民身份。这些数字尚未包括基因检测的费用，出生期间和出生后的住院费用，酒店住宿或额外的额外文书工作。她估计她的总金额将超过16万美元。由于这个过程疲惫不堪，她最近决定放弃，尽管花了超过80,000美元。
Morrigan went through several hoops and delays after birth awaiting her visa approval.91xilaibao.com She said that while securing citizenship for an American baby born through international surrogacy is messy business, it was easy compared to the other challenges she faced in the surrogacy process.
Morrigan经历了几次艰难的经历后，在她的孩子出生后，还要延迟等待批准她的签证。她说，虽然为通过国际代孕出生的美国婴儿获得公民身份是一件很混乱和麻烦的事情，但与代孕过程中遇到的挑战相比，这还算很容易。
“Most times, you have to get the child’s birth certificate by going to the consulate and proving through a DNA test that the child is genetically related to a U.S. Citizen,” she explains. “Once that’s verified, you apply for your passport and other travel necessities. Once in the country, you must go to the foreigners registration office (FRRO) where you prove that you have paid all your bills in India, to the surrogate, the hospital, the clinic that provided the IVF, and even the hotel where you are staying. If people are not paid, you don’t get to leave.”
“大多数情况下，你必须去领事馆并通过DNA测试证明代孕出生的孩子与美国公民有遗传学关系来获得孩子的出生证明，”她解释道。“一旦经过验证，您就可以申请孩子的护照和其他旅行必需品。一旦进入代孕发生国印度，您必须前往外国人登记办公室（FRRO），证明您已经在印度支付了所有账单，代孕妈妈，医院，提供IVF的诊所，甚至是你所住的酒店。如果人们没有得到报酬，你就不能离开。“
International Fertility Centre, Morrigan's second company in her surrogacy journey, covered all medical and pregnancy costs in their package and facilitated the entire procedure. She said the entire process, despite hang ups, cost her around $70,000.
国际生育中心是Morrigan在代孕期间经历过的第二家公司，其所有医疗和怀孕费用都包含在他们的套餐中，并安排了整个手术过程。她说，尽管半途而废，她花了大约7万美元。
“We’re paying our surrogate $52,500, which will allow her to buy a house and put her daughter through private school up to the eighth grade,” Morrigan said. “We made sure the money would be under her name.” 莫里根说：“我们支付给代孕妈妈52,500美元，这可以让代孕妈妈有钱买房子，让她的女儿上私立学校到八年级。” “我们确保这些钱都到了代孕妈妈的名下。 Morrigan had to specifically enforced this because the patriarchal society in India often relegates the payment to a women’s husband. Sometimes, the women participating in commercial surrogacy never see the money at all. Critics of this type of overseas surrogacy say that this process exploits poor women by using their bodies, when they may not understand the full implications of pregnancy, birth, and what responsibilities they are actually undertaking—and therefore not able to give full consent. Morrigan disagrees with this. 莫里根不得不特别这样做，因为印度的父权制社会经常将这笔款项给了女性的丈夫。有时，参与商业代孕的代孕妈妈根本不会看到钱。国外代孕的批评者说，代孕过程利用这些贫穷妇女可能不了解怀孕，分娩的影响，以及她们代孕实际需要承担的责任时，通过的身体来剥削贫穷的妇女， - 因此不能完全同意（国外代孕）。莫里根不同意这一点。 
Still, Morrigan’s dedication does not counteract the fact that international surrogacy is hardly regulated, a reality that can hurt both surrogates and intended parents. From black market surrogacy options in China to the entirely legal and booming surrogacy industry in India, to illegal mom-and-pop surrogacy organizations in the U.S. agencies—clinics, donors and surrogates have no official protocol to follow. 91xilaibao.com According to New Jersey reproductive attorney Melissa Brisman, they can make up the rules as they go.
尽管如此，莫里根的好心并没有抵消这样一个事实，即国际代孕很难受到监管，这一现实可能会伤害代孕妈妈和代孕出生的孩子预期的父母。从中国的黑市代孕选择到印度完全合法和蓬勃发展的代孕行业，到美国非法的代孕妈妈和流行代孕组织 -诊所，捐赠者和代孕妈妈都没有正式的协议可供遵循。根据新泽西州的生殖律师Melissa Brisman的说法，她们（不受监管的代孕）可以随时制定规则。
"In the U.S., this issue isn’t being legislated because it’s religiously and politically charged,” Brisman says. “You have Republicans and Democrats pitted against each other, and surrogacy affects such a small percentage of the population, the issue won’t gain them votes if it goes through. So the measures die.”
布里斯曼说：“在美国，这个问题没有立法，因为受到了宗教和政治方面的影响。”你们共和党人和民主党人互相攻击，代孕影响了这么一小部分人，如果代孕被许可，就不能获得选票。所以这些问题无解。“
She contends the regulations in India and Thailand are tightening, but not necessarily in the right way. The India government's Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, which would provide protection and regulation for surrogates and foreign couples, is currently in the works. But the Bill excludes gay couples.
她认为印度和泰国的代孕法规正在收紧，但不一定是正确的方式。印度政府的辅助生殖技术（ART）法案目前正在审议中，该法案旨在为代孕妈妈和外国夫妇提供保护和监管。但该法案不包括同性恋伴侣。
泰国 禁止代孕
“They’re third world countries, so even with legalization and regulation, the care there will be deficient in comparison to what you can get in the U.S.,” she said. “There are no quality controls, and the regulations they tightened six months ago only succeeded in cutting out a large population—gay couples—who are in need of this service. Now you have to be in a traditional married situation to be eligible for Indian surrogacy.”
“他们是第三世界国家，所以即使合法化和监管，与美国相比，那里的保护也会有所不足，”她说。“没有（代孕）质量控制措施，他们六个月前收紧的法规只能成功地减少了需要这项服务的大量人口，例如同性恋夫妇。现在你必须是传统的婚姻状态才有资格获得印度代孕。”(91喜来宝)
All of this leads to confusion, impossible-to-follow and misleading paperwork trails, lost funds or even outright fraud, as with the now-bankrupt Planet Hospital, Morrigan’s first surrogacy agency.
所有这些都导致了混乱，不可能处理好的手续工作，损失资金甚至是彻头彻尾的欺诈行为，就像导致 Morrigan现在破产的第一个代孕机构Planet Hospital一样。
Some intended parents want nothing to do with their surrogate. When asked why she went overseas for the process, A.B. cited cost as her number one deterrent to a U.S. surrogacy. But she also said that the proximity of the surrogate was a concern: “I want no relationship with the surrogate. I think from the perspective of the surrogate, the day of the birth is the start of a long period of mourning. To the surrogate, having to hand over that baby, is the same trauma as giving up a child for adoption. I don't want to have a surrogate that is emotional after the fact and keeps trying to contact me to sell me breast milk or ask for photos.”
有些雇主父母不想与他们的代孕妈妈有任何关系。当被问到为什么这类雇主去海外参与这个过程时，她们把代孕费用昂贵作为她们不选择美国代孕的原因。但她们也说，代孕妈妈的离得太近也是一个问题：“我们不想与代孕妈妈有任何关系。我们认为，从代孕妈妈的角度来看，出生那天是长期伤心的开始。对于代孕妈妈来说，不得不交出那个孩子，就像放弃收养孩子一样。我不想在事后有一个情绪化的代孕妈妈，代孕妈妈一直试图联系我卖给我母乳或要求得到孩子照片。”
Morrigan said regardless of location, surrogacy as a process is fraught with fear and outside judgment. “Surrogacy makes some people so uncomfortable because it challenges traditional ideas about some very fundamental cultural values, like who has the rights to the child while in-utero and who gets to make decisions in the surrogate’s life as she carries another family’s baby.”
莫里根说，无论在哪里，代孕作为一个过程充满了担忧和外界的议论。“代孕使一些人们感到非常不舒服，因为它挑战了一些非常基本的文化价值观的传统观念，比如谁拥有子宫内的孩子，以及在谁有权决定代孕妈妈的生活，因为代孕妈妈怀着另一个家庭的孩子。”
To be sure, surrogacy is a complex issue that requires many players from egg donors to psychologists. Depending on the country, surrogates may be allowed to remain with their family for the duration, or they may be shipped off to secluded areas to ensure proper medical watch and procedures take place. They may be asked to abstain from sex, and if something goes wrong with the fetus, the intended parents may find themselves at odds with the surrogate over abortion issues. It’s a murky, ethically-charged arena with no central governing body holding a flashlight for those on the journey. 代孕，代孕是一个复杂的问题，需要许多参与者，从捐卵者、胚胎医生和心理学家。根据国家的不同，代孕妈妈可以在一段时间内与自己的家人在一起，或者可以将他们安置到偏僻的地方，以确保提供适当的医疗观察和治疗。代孕妈妈会被要求不要有性行为，如果胎儿出现问题，雇主父母可能会发现自己在堕胎问题上与代孕妈妈的主张不一致。这是一个阴暗，充满伦理拷问的舞台，没有管理机构为代孕中的人们指明方向。
来源 www.theatlantic.com
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