However, it is illegal to advertise for a surrogate or for a surrogate to advertise. Finding a healthy, willing surrogate that you know you can get along with can take months or even years. Once they've made an arrangement, the couple and the surrogate usually try artificial insemination or IVF for about three or four months, although it can take longer. If they set up an open arrangement, the couple can be intimately involved in all the details of their baby's gestation and may be there for the birth of their baby. In addition to the complications accompanying procedures such as artificial insemination and IVF, surrogacy is highly controversial, and can be legally complex.
Some surrogates also face difficult emotional and psychological issues over letting the baby go.
In addition, the couple and the surrogate may have difficulty making mutual decisions about matters such as antenatal tests and how to manage the pregnancy, labour, and delivery. Most parents are open and honest with their child about the way they were brought into the world, and experts consider this is much better for a child's emotional development than trying to keep it a secret. Go to the main Fertility Problems area Fact-checked by the BabyCentre Editorial Team and approved by our Medical Advisory Board . There are hundreds of available surrogates out there. I know, I've done it twice.