Surrogate Motherhood: It's Not Just a Job, It's ...

In response to Meredith's request to the mothers among us to tote up the number of "billable hours" in a pregnancy: This sum seems inherently incalculable, not only because it would differ wildly and unforeseeably from person to person and pregnancy to pregnancy, but because the normal model of pay for work just doesn't apply to bearing a child for someone else in exchange for money. A closer model might be civil compensation, such as if someone were hurt in an accident and a jury had to calculate how much her comfort, freedom of movement, quality of life, etc. were affected in order to reach a settlement.

Also, of course, a surrogate is incurring risks to her own health, agreeing to go through the pain and potential injury of labor, so there are things you're being compensated for over and above an hourly wage. I agree that $20,000 seems low (especially if you figure in that pregnancy doesn't really last nine months, but closer to 10, and that there's a significant recovery period after giving birth). But dividing the total sum by the number of hours you're pregnant (or the number of those hours that are experienced as inconvenient) doesn't really get at the problem.

Comments

I agree that you can't go

By: mtnhighmama | Wed, 07/22/2009 - 13:35

I agree that you can't go about calculating it as billable hours, but suggest that surrogacy is seen more as a 'contract' job kind of pay.

(Although, for the record, all of this conversation would most likely be seen as objectionable and even offensive by most surrogates, as the idea that surrogacy is a job at all is mostly viewed as a negative idea. I am a surrogate, but acknowledge that my views on surrogacy and the financial aspect are not representative of the surrogacy community as a whole. But in reality, I think it is unlikely that there is one idea about compensation that would be acceptable to the entire surrogacy community. It is a topic hotly debated.)

Most surrogates have a base pay they request, and then added expenses (examples may include: a cycling fee, a maternity clothing fee, lost wages and childcare expenses, housekeeping, fees to offset a multiple pregnancy, loss of reproductive ability, fee for a surgical birth, etc.). The base compensation is intended to offset the time, energy and physical toll the surrogate goes through to help the Intended family have a child. Most of the additional expenses are intended to make sure there are no out-of-pocket expenses to the surrogate.

There are currently average ranges for all of these expenses, that vary according to a lot of factors.