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BSurrogacy is an incredible journey. Full of hope, love, and yes, a bit of overwhelm about logistics. In Canada, intended parents often budget roughly $80,000–$130,000 CAD for a full surrogacy path. 

Becoming a parent through surrogacy is a journey filled with hope, complexity and deeply personal decisions.  For many intended parents, the dream of holding a baby is interwoven with worries about legalities, costs, medical procedures and, above all, trust.  Agencies tout their programs and jurisdictions as the ultimate solution, yet the internet is rife with cautionary tales. How can one take that leap of faith and discern whether an agency’s promises are genuine?

Cultural attitudes and laws around surrogacy vary widely across the world, making international surrogacy journeys complex. But, does it have to be? Surrogacy offers a path to parenthood for those who cannot carry a pregnancy, but it also presents an era of challenges. Intended parents, the individuals or couples who commission a surrogate to carry their child, often encounter legal, medical, emotional, and financial hurdles at different stages of the journey.

If you’re a first-time intended parent exploring surrogacy, you probably have a million questions, and that’s completely normal. As the Surrogacy Insider (an independent surrogacy consultant who’s guided many parents globally), I’m here to help. 

Starting your surrogacy journey is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. Between navigating legal requirements, complex medical processes, and significant financial decisions, it’s easy to feel lost. This is especially true when every surrogacy agency promises to be “the best fit” and might pressure you to sign on quickly.

Armenia has emerged as an attractive surrogacy destination in the recent year, thanks to clear laws and relatively affordable programs. Surrogacy has been legal in Armenia since 2002 under the Law on Human Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights, which established a framework for both gestational and traditional surrogacy. In 2024-2025, Armenia updated its legislation to broaden who can participate in surrogacy and to refine regulations - changes that especially benefit

Sarah and Mike thought they had everything figured out. After two years of trying to conceive and three failed IVF cycles, they'd found the perfect surrogate and were using donor eggs from a 24-year-old college graduate. Their fertility doctor assured them this combination would finally give them their baby. But their fourth cycle failed too. It wasn't until they switched clinics that they discovered the real problem: Mike's sperm DNA was severely damaged, something their pre

WARNING: Until June 2024, surrogacy in Argentina was thriving, largely due to a favourable legal framework in Buenos Aires. Under this system, only the intended parent(s) were listed on the birth certificate, granting them full parental rights from birth.However, a series of scandals and growing legal uncertainty led some IVF clinics to suspend embryo transfers for surrogacy, with many halting procedures until at least April 2025.

In the increasingly complex landscape of international surrogacy, intended parents often find themselves navigating decisions that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. One such consideration is the strategic creation of embryos in one location and their subsequent transportation to another facility for surrogacy procedures—a practice known as cryo-shipping.