Baby’ boom: Movie may spawn rise in surrogacy

By Eva Wolchover and Benjamin Bell
Sunday, May 11, 2008 

Don’t be surprised to see “Happy Surrogate Mother’s Day” cards in the future following the success of Hollywood’s pregnancy romp “Baby Mama,” Bay State experts say.

Some fertility professionals believe the hit comedy, which centers around a businesswoman’s strained relationship with her blue-collar surrogate, could help trigger a surge in surrogacy.

“Any type of publicity that increases awareness will prompt more women to seek treatment this way or more women to offer as surrogates,” said Dr. Samuel Pang, medical director at the Reproductive Science Center in Lexington.

Mainstream media coverage and Web support groups also are fueling an increase in surrogacy, doctors say. The state Registry of Vital Statistics does not track surrogate births, but experts say there are 100-200 surrogate pregnancies in Massachusetts annually.

Surrogacy is the “ultimate act of altruism,” said Dr. Joe Hill of Fertility Centers of New England in Reading. “I think that anything that raises awareness is a positive force.”

Most women who seek surrogates are unable to carry a baby but contribute their eggs and their partner’s sperm to be fertilized and placed in a surrogate, who is paid $30,000 to $50,000.

Avon mom of three Tracey Barker had her third child Kelsey, 3, via surrogate after developing cervical cancer and having a hysterectomy.

“Mother’s Day reminds me of the miracle,” she said.

Unlike the movie’s spatting duo, “I maintain a good relationship with the surrogate,” said Barker. “She is a part of our life.”

Surrogacy is not “a process prone to problems and failure,” said Ron Poole-Dayan, marketing director at Circle Surrogacy in Boston, criticizing the movie for that sterotype.

“ ‘Baby Mama’ put out a lot of myths that surrogate mothers are poor white trash that want to keep the child and take money from parents,” agreed Shirley Zager, spokeswoman for OPTS, a pro-surrogacy nonprofit.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth, said Kelsey’s surrogate mother, Lisa Hardy-Bell, a nurse and office manager who has not seen the movie.

“I’m not sure I want to go (see the movie) and get offended,” she said.

Katy Jordan and Renee Nadeau contributed to this report.

Source: The Boston Herald