Aggregated News
Charlie Lee and his husband want to have a baby.
But they are facing a major hurdle: They have 12 viable embryos, but no one to carry one.
The couple has spent a little over a year searching for a surrogate. They were originally told by their surrogacy agency that they would be matched with one in six months at the most. That was in January 2021; 15 months later, they are still waiting.
Before the pandemic, surrogate mothers were typically paid about $35,000 (fees are unregulated and usually determined by the surrogates and their agencies, if they work with one) and wait times for a match tended to be about three to six months.
Now, Mr. Lee, 31, and his husband, who conceived their embryos using donor eggs, have increased their offer to $50,000 plus medical fees and other compensation, such as maternity clothing and transportation costs.
“We are anxious and we are just waiting,” said Mr. Lee, who lives in Madison, Wis., and is a student in an M.B.A. program. “There’s nothing else I can do at this...
