Ana García Obregón has become the absolute protagonist of today, giving news that certainly no one expected: the actress has welcomed her second daughter at 68 years of age.
A girl, whom the presenter has called Ana, who was born in Miami (USA) on March 20 thanks to surrogacy. A birth that has reopened the debate on this assisted reproduction technique, also known as "wombs for rent", illegal in Spain.
The actress and presenter has kept the process under the strictest secrecy, and it is not surprising, since this assisted reproduction technique continues to generate numerous controversies in Spain -you just have to see the reactions that have occurred throughout the day to the know the news of her new maternity.
However, it is a completely legal process in the United States, a country that many couples who want to be parents use this method, characterized because the woman who carries the baby will not be the mother of the baby, but that of another person or couple. This technique, complex from an ethical and emotional point of view, requires a woman who, by means of a contractual agreement (usually well paid), agrees to carry the baby of a third party and, after pregnancy, renounces the right to maternity.
But how much are we talking about? United States in one of the most expensive countries when it comes to starting this process. Consulting some centers in the country, it can be verified that the average price is between 100,000 and 200,000 dollars (about 92,000-185,000 euros, in exchange). At The Fertility Center of Las Vegas, for example, prices are between $110,000 and $170,000; while in the West Coast Surrogacy, they go up from 190,000 to 230,000 dollars, depending on the agreements in each particular case.
In Florida, the state where Ana Obregón has carried out the process, things vary little. The average cost would also be between 110,000 and 200,000 euros, and almost all the agencies that work in the area guarantee compensation to pregnant women of at least 30,000 dollars (approximately 28,000 euros).
This, as long as you work directly with a specialized agency. There is another option, called "Independent Journey", which works without the intermediation of agents and directly connects the parents with the surrogate mother. Prices are between $10,000 and $30,000.
All these "contracts" include, in general, medical expenses -let's remember that in the United States healthcare is neither public nor universal-, economic compensation for the pregnant woman, all legal-legal expenses and anything that may affect the process.
Many of them, in addition, must include the costs derived from assisted reproduction techniques such as in vitro fertilization (IVF/ICSI), which many couples have to undergo before being able to start the surrogacy process. This, without counting the genetic examinations and other necessary tests for both the future parents and the pregnant women, in order to guarantee their health and that of the future baby.
To all this budget, the agency's own costs should be added, which keeps a small percentage for processing (in case of carrying out the process through one of them).
Defenders of surrogacy speak of the right to be parents and the freedom of women to decide what they do with their bodies; while its detractors (among them, the state network against surrogates) criticize the exploitation of women, used as an incubator, for the purchase of a child, taking advantage on many occasions of the precariousness of the mother, the depravity of capitalism and the degradation of values and any ethics. They consider that being parents is not a right and that there are other methods to be parents such as adoption or other methods of assisted reproduction.
