Independent surrogacy journeys without agency intervention: an ethnographic study of surrogates' experiences

The research presented inquires into how women in the United States who act as surrogates independently, without using agencies, to help others form their families organize, experience, and understand these independent journeys. Based on ethnographic interviews with ten white, middle-class U.S. women, this article analyzes their choice to undertake independent (non-agency directed) surrogacy journeys in the United States, a subject which has received little specific attention in the literature. Data from in-depth interviews regarding the decision to carry out an independent surrogacy, the knowledge necessary to do so, the lived experience of the journey itself, the relationship between the surrogate and the intended parents in the years afterwards, and the perceived pros and cons of independent journeys (including cases in which the women used an agency in later surrogacies) will be presented. Our findings, which document all the steps of the surrogacy journey, show that these women carry out extensive research into all the aspects of the process, making informed decisions throughout. The further election of these women to entrepreneurialize their experience and work in the sector of assisted reproduction and surrogacy will also be considered. We conclude that these women's desire and capacity to control, themselves, the complexity of the medical, legal, economic, relational, and emotional aspects of the surrogacy journey, maintaining their autonomy, lead them to prefer an independent surrogacy journey for themselves, while informing other women of the pros and cons of this type of journey.