From CBS News · · 1m 10s
Surrogacy's rules are mostly a myth
A yearlong CBS News investigation found the booming U.S. surrogacy industry runs with almost no protection for the women carrying the pregnancies.
In brief
A yearlong CBS News investigation found the booming U.S. surrogacy industry runs with almost no protection for the women carrying the pregnancies. Commercial surrogacy in the U.S. is far less regulated than most people assume, and surrogates carry the risk. Originally reported by CBS News.
Paid to carry a pregnancy
Commercial surrogacy means paying a woman to have fertilized eggs implanted in her uterus and carry the pregnancy to term. In the U.S. it is a growing business.
What everyone assumes
Most people picture a tightly regulated field with contracts, oversight and medical safeguards built in at every step.
The rules barely exist
A yearlong CBS News investigation found few, if any, meaningful protections for surrogates.
“few, if any, meaningful protections exist for surrogates”
A booming industry
Demand keeps climbing and the business keeps expanding, without the guardrails that growth would normally bring.
Surrogates speak up
Correspondent Katrina Kaufman reports on women who say they went through troubling practices while carrying pregnancies for others.
Who bears the risk
When oversight is thin, the person taking on the medical and financial danger is the woman carrying the child, not the agency or the intended parents.
The bottom line
Commercial surrogacy in the U.S. is far less regulated than most people assume, and surrogates carry the risk.
