Gestational Surrogates Wanted – Do You Fit the Bill?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CHICAGO (April 8, 2008) -- Thanks to movies like “Baby Mama” with Tina Fey, a now-cancelled Fox sitcom, a feature in Newsweek and celebrities like Dennis Quaid and his wife using surrogates to carry their children, gestational surrogacy is a topic that has people talking.

“Surrogacy is in the news now more than ever,” says Robin von Halle, president of Alternative Reproductive Resources, a Chicago agency specializing in bringing intended parents together with gestational surrogates and egg donors. “Every day, the number of intended parents on our surrogate waiting list grows.”

According to von Halle, despite increased awareness about gestational surrogacy, most people are unaware that each surrogate candidate undergoes an intensive screening process. ARR posts a short quiz on its Web site of ten questions that potential surrogates must answer honestly.

To be able to move on to the next step, women must be able to respond to such questions as:
Are you a non-smoker?
Do you have health insurance?
Have you given birth to a healthy baby?

“Those qualifications help us ensure we’re finding surrogates who are emotionally and physically up to carrying someone else’s child – and have the requisite personal support system in place,” adds von Halle. “Movies and TV give the impression that anyone can be a surrogate. That’s far from true.”

Indiana resident Tina Sprague, 27, decided to become a surrogate after having two children of her own, delivering twins as a gestational surrogate in May of 2007. She was surprised at the length and detail of the application process.

“Becoming a surrogate wasn’t easy,” she says. “The psychological testing was long and intense. But it was worth it. I can say that this was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

Established in 1994, Chicago-based ARR was one of the first agencies in the United States dedicated to locating and matching egg donors (and, more recently gestational surrogates) with intended parents from around the world. For further information, contact von Halle at 773.327.7315, or info@arr1.com.