Quick Answer
In interviews with 10 experienced U.S. gestational carriers who completed 16 independent (non-agency) journeys, the women chose independent surrogacy for control and to save intended parents the agency fee, not to earn more. Independent pay ran $18,000 to $30,000, versus about $60,000 through an agency today, and the journeys worked because the women refused to skip any screening or legal step.
Study at a Glance
Source. Ethnographic interview study, Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 2026.
Who was studied. 10 white, middle-class U.S. women with 16 independent journeys between them.
What was measured. How they decided on and ran independent journeys, from matching through post-birth contact.
Main result. They chose independence for control and lower cost to intended parents, not higher pay, and managed every safeguard themselves.
Most writing about surrogacy assumes an agency sits in the middle. This study looks at the women who go without one. Independent surrogacy, where a gestational carrier matches with and manages the process alongside the intended parents directly, gets treated as rare or risky. Ten experienced women explain why they prefer it.
Researchers interviewed the women about 16 independent journeys, from how they matched to whether they still talk to the families years later.
How the Study Was Done
This was a qualitative interview study, not a trial. Two researchers interviewed ten white, middle-class American women across two waves (2018 to 2022, and early 2026), 45 to 90 minutes each, and built their themes from the interviews. Most had also done agency journeys, so they could compare the two paths directly. The study uses the word "surrogate" and includes a few traditional surrogacy arrangements alongside gestational ones.
Why These Women Chose Independent Surrogacy
Control. Most described a take-charge personality and wanted to manage the medical, legal, and emotional pieces themselves instead of routing them through a third party.
Savings for the intended parents. The women pointed to the agency fee, which they put at $20,000 to $50,000, as money independent journeys save the parents. They did not add it to their own pay.
Pay was not the driver. Independent compensation ran $18,000 to $30,000, below the roughly $60,000 agencies pay now. One woman was set to earn $60,000 on an upcoming agency journey after taking $18,000 for two independent ones.
Closer relationships, sooner. Working directly meant building trust with the parents earlier, and the women kept in contact with 9 of 13 families after birth.
What Independent Surrogacy Asks of You
The women who did well were the ones who treated the contract as protection and completed every step an agency would normally run.
Independent legal counsel for each side, and a fully funded escrow account.
Background checks and psychological evaluations on both sides, shared between them.
Direct, uncomfortable conversations about termination, compensation, and travel, settled before signing.
If you are weighing this path, support built into the process helps you think it through; our surrogacy and donor services exist for exactly this kind of decision.
For Clinicians and Agencies
Design. Qualitative, 10 self-selected repeat carriers, no comparison group; the findings describe meaning and motivation, not how common anything is.
Selection. Participants were recruited through agencies and surrogacy networks and were outspoken advocates, several employed in the industry, which skews the accounts positive.
Practice implication. In independent matches no third party guarantees that evaluations, independent counsel, background checks, and escrow funding happen; evaluations and consultations should confirm each one is in place.
What This Study Cannot Tell You
Whether independent surrogacy is safer or riskier than agency surrogacy. There was no comparison group and no outcome data.
How the intended parents experienced these journeys. Only the women who carried were interviewed.
Whether this applies beyond white, middle-class, experienced repeat carriers. The sample was small and self-selected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is independent surrogacy legal in the United States? Where surrogacy itself is allowed, yes, though laws vary by state and some restrict or bar compensated arrangements. Both sides still need their own legal counsel.
Does an independent journey actually save money? The intended parents can save the agency fee, which the women estimated at $20,000 to $50,000. In this study the carriers did not raise their own pay to capture it.
Is independent surrogacy a good idea for a first-time carrier? This was not studied directly. Most of the women had learned the process through an earlier agency journey first and advised new carriers to start with an agency.
Citation. Konvalinka NA, Ayala A. Independent surrogacy journeys without agency intervention: an ethnographic study of surrogates' experiences. Front Glob Womens Health. 2026;7:1833823. doi:10.3389/fgwh.2026.1833823
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