Surrogacy and the refugee

For weeks now, I've been thinking about how being a refugee intersects with surrogacy. It's been a struggle to put my thoughts into words.

There are people escaping a war who need help. Most of those people are women. There are people around the world who want to help. But sometimes that help comes with strings attached.

Is that okay? Is it always better to be helped, even at a cost? Or is it absolutely not okay? Should refugees — already tremendously vulnerable — always be helped unconditionally?

I've decided to tackle this topic in three separate items, which I will publish one at a time this week, in the following order:

Tuesday - Part one: Intended parents rescue former surrogates

*Apologies that this first item is a cross-post with HeyReprotech, so you may end up receiving two versions of this today

Wednesday - Part two: Should intended parents sponsor their pregnant surrogate as a refugee?

Thursday - Part three: Is it okay to help a Ukrainian refugee in exchange for surrogacy?

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Ukraine Surrogacy Dispatches is an ad hoc newsletter about what's happening with international surrogacy in Ukraine during the war. It will be informed by interviews with surrogates, intended parents, agencies, brokers and other sources. The newsletter will not have a regular publishing schedule, but will come out as information arises. It will end when there's nothing left to say.