Couples who are unable to have their own children either through fertility problems or because they are a gay couple will now find that they have more options. As in they can either, choose adoption or surrogacy.
The choice will however, be very personal. Does the couple feel the need to be genetically related to their child? There is gestational surrogacy now as well as traditional surrogacy. In gestational surrogacy, if the mother is still able to reproduce her own eggs but cannot, for whatever reason carry the child either at all or to full term then the egg can be taken from the intended mother, fertilised with the intended fathers sperm and then placed into the surrogate mothers uterus to be carried by the surrogate mother for the next nine months. As with traditional surrogacy, where a sperm donor is needed for the surrogate mother to be made pregnant and she then carries the baby for the nest nine months.
There are a lot of anti-gay and lesbian adoption laws in foreign countries and still, even in so called enlightened countries, there are still people with strong feelings against such issues as gay and lesbian adoption. Due to this, the majority of gay and lesbian couples have already taken the surrogate mother route and have been building their families in just such a way for a long time.
Also, a large amount of foreign countries are now shutting their doors to prospective adoptive parents. Guatemala closed its doors to international adoption in 2007, Vietnam in 2008. Also, staying in these countries while sorting out all of the legal requirements involved in adoption can be very arduous and somewhat costly. There are also quite a few uncertainties involved in domestic adoption, this is why so many people now go for international adoption, but as more and more countries make it either impossible or extremely difficult, this option is now not so easy.
The large majority of people will not be able to afford the high cost of American surrogacy. It can very often come in at $100,000 or more. This is more often than not through an agency, but as it can be a very complex process it is not advisable to try to cut costs by going it alone. An agency will help you in so many different ways.
Because of the high cost of domestic surrogacy, there are many couples who are now looking at International surrogacy. India has been offering this service to foreign intended parents for a long time but at the moment, due to the unrest in India and the recent bombings the majority of international parents to be have started to look elsewhere. The Ukraine does offer this service also to foreigners who are looking for surrogate mothers outside of their own country. Also, in the Ukraine it is illegal for the surrogate mother to change her mind at the birth and keep the baby. They also have some very good agencies that will help the intended parents through any problems they might have. Also, Russia offers this service to foreigners and Guatemala. Guatemala may seem to be the best country to go for if you are American, as you can get quick flights, cheaply and more often than flying to Europe or Asia. Also, Guatemalan agencies have some very forward thinking medical clinics and state of the art care for all concerned.
So, the options are quite straightforward. You just need to sit down and work out what suits your requirements best.
