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Sacramento elementary-school teacher Debi Lawson recently finished a second job. Like teaching, it included prep and recovery time, but she was done by summer.
Lawson delivered a baby girl June 10 for a gay couple in Los Angeles.
A surrogate mom with no relation to the child, Lawson earned a second income – and made it possible for Eric Yan and Zhenxing Bao to have a baby with a genetic link to them.
Lawson will earn $50,000 or more in fees and benefits by the time full recovery is over; Yan and Bao will pay as much as $200,000.
Surrogacy has been done privately for years, often with a family member or friend willing to carry the baby. But the practice is quietly growing commercially as modern families change and more gay and foreign couples look to the U.S. for help.
California is attractive for commercial surrogacy because the state offers some legal protection for surrogates and intended parents.
Exact numbers are hard to get because there is little formal reporting. But notations by hospital clerks statewide provide...