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Global surrogacy projected to be a $79 billion industry in 5 years
Disturbingly, the surrogacy and IVF industries in the U.S. have become lucrative businesses in the global marketplace, with surrogacy expected to experience explosive growth over the coming years due to several factors.
The practice of global surrogacy is growing and is projected to become a $79 billion industry by 2031.
In the U.S. there are scant federal regulations for either IVF or surrogacy.
From 2013-2022, the CDC reported an approximately 176% increase in the use of gestational carrier surrogacy.
In most wealthy European countries, surrogacy is banned. It is also banned in places like China and Taiwan, which is why many foreign nationals are now seeking out American surrogates. This means that children born to American surrogates (who have parents who are not citizens of the U.S.) are automatically American citizens.
Regardless of whether IVF is used or whether money is exchanged, surrogacy violates the human rights of the child who is conceived.
The widespread acceptance and use of IVF and surrogacy have commercialized the production of human life — treating human beings as objects to be purchased and negotiated — as evidenced by business growth projections.
According to the surrogacy agency, Angels Creation Reproductive Center (ACRC) Global Fertility Holding Group, surrogacy is growing for several reasons, including “improved IVF success rates, greater social acceptance, expanded insurance coverage, and growing awareness among LGBTQIA+ couples and individuals facing infertility challenges.”
In the U.S. there are scant federal regulations for either IVF or surrogacy. Most regulations, if any, are on the state level. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) confirms this reality, stating:
“In the U.S., GC [gestational carriers] arrangements are governed under state-specific statutes, court opinions, and regulatory policies. Many states statutorily permit GC arrangements; others have no statutes or case law specifically permitting or prohibiting GC usage, and some prohibit GC arrangements, making surrogacy contracts void and unenforceable. To date, there exists no overarching federal statute governing the use of GCs.”
However, since the majority of surrogates use IVF, there is some data that is collected and reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and is reported as the number of embryo transfer cycles used by a gestational carrier surrogate.
It is important to note that this data makes no indication of how many embryos were used, destroyed, discarded or miscarried in the process; how many live births resulted; or how many embryos were created for the purpose of using surrogacy. It merely reports the number of transfer cycles that used a surrogate.
From 2013-2022, the CDC reported an approximately 176% increase in the use of gestational carrier surrogacy. (2013: 3,517, 2022: 9,734). The ASRM, which also receives data from participating IVF clinics across the U.S., reported a staggering 648% increase from 2004 to 2023.
Last month, during a BBC News report, Washington Sun reporter Emi Nietfeld said that the U.S. surrogacy market is “estimated to be a $9 billion industry in 2026, up from $5 billion two years ago.”
Nietfeld notes that in most wealthy European countries, surrogacy is banned.
The BBC reported that Italy, Spain, France, and Germany are some of the European countries which “outlaw all forms of surrogacy.”
In many eastern countries like China and Taiwan, surrogacy is also outlawed. Live Action News recently reported on a study which showed that “nearly one-third of intended parents in the United States are foreign nationals, and 40% of them are Chinese.”
As Nietfeld’s reporting suggests, the surrogacy market is very profitable – so much so, that its growth trends and forecasts are tracked and analyzed globally like other business ventures.
Mordor Intelligence estimated that the global surrogacy market size will grow from $23.66 billion (2025) to $28.91 billion (2026). Mordor lists projections for 2031 at a staggering $78.68 billion and reports the industry’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR), which helps to measure estimated average growth over time, at 22.19% from 2026-2031.
Mordor also reports:
In 2025, IVF was attributed to 66.12% of the surrogacy market size and “is expected to advance at a 24.42% CAGR through 2031.”
A breakdown of intended parents showed that heterosexual couples represented 76.05% in 2025. Same-sex couples accounted for roughly 14% of reported intended parents but represented the estimated “fastest growth at 22.68% CAGR to 2031.”
Since surrogacy is allowed in the U.S., American women have become a prime target for wealthy international buyers.
Nietfeld points to the lack of laws restricting surrogacy and IVF practices in the U.S. as one of the reasons why people from around the world are using U.S. women as surrogates.
“Sex selection is a routine part of IVF… you can become a surrogate [intended] parent if you’re old, if you’re single, the child doesn’t have to be genetically related to you [the intended parent] at all. And you can have as many kids as you want,” she reported.
But there’s another incentive. “One big draw about surrogacy in America, which is that any child born here, even if it’s via surrogacy, automatically receives citizenship. And that American passport is a huge benefit to many parents from other countries,” Nietfeld stated.
Concerns over international surrogacy continue to rise. Live Action News has reported on recent cases:
A Chinese couple who acquired 21 children through surrogacy; the couple was recently arrested and charged with child abuse
An Army veteran secretly pairing Chinese citizens with American surrogates
A website geared towards Chinese nationals that targets American surrogates
Recently, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick issued a formal directive to state Senators, known as an interim charge, to investigate concerns with international surrogacy in the state. In response, the state Senate’s Health and Human Services (HHS) committee held a fact-finding hearing in July.
During the hearing, Dr. Tara Das with the Texas HHS State Registrar of Vital Statistics department reported that from 2016 to 2025, the state experienced a nearly 170% increase in reported surrogate related births.
The exact number of international surrogacy cases in Texas is unknown. State agency officials explained that currently Texas is not made aware of surrogacy contracts and births until after a child is born. Das explained that all birth certificate information listed under the mother is referring to the woman who delivers the child and explained that is the “guidance that is provided at the national level.”
After the child is born, in accordance with Texas Family Code, Chapter 160, the surrogacy agreement must be validated by the courts then the intended mother and father are named as the parents and placed on the birth certificate.
Jennifer Lahl, registered nurse and founder of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, also testified that some surrogacy services “... explicitly market their services to global clients, offering them [international clients] travel support, visa help, and turning their trip into a vacation.”
Lahl further claimed that one of the primary targets of the international surrogacy market is “military wives for their wombs.”
Senator Lois Kolkhorst, chair of the HHS committee, posed a hypothetical question to Lahl, asking if any person from around the world could simply google any surrogate company by typing, “I want an American surrogate.”
Lahl affirmed Kolkhorst's assumption, stating, “... And you can say, I want a Danish sperm…and you could say I want an egg donor from Columbia because I want a smart, Ivy league egg donor…” and essentially construct a 'designer' child.
“Many European countries prohibit surrogacy because they recognize that the human body, motherhood, and the parent child relationship should not be subjects of a contract or a transaction,” Lahl stated, further noting that “French law effectively treats surrogacy as a form of prohibited commodification, akin to exploitation or slavery like practices.”
When asked by Kolkhorst if there were any cases of suspected abuse or neglect regarding surrogacy cases in the state, Audrey O’Neil with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) reported that since May 2025, three cases of abuse associated with surrogacy were reported. In two of the cases, the intended parents were non-citizens, and in the third the intended parent was an American with a “serious history of child abuse.”
The desire to have children is good and natural; however, no one has the right to obtain a child.
Surrogacy is a grave violation of human dignity, and dehumanizes both the child and the woman by treating them as objects — like a commodity to be commissioned and used in a monetary exchange to fulfill the desires of adults. Regardless of whether IVF is used or whether money is exchanged, it violates the human rights of the child who is conceived.
The global surrogacy market and increasing concerns with the growing number of scandalous international surrogacy cases serve as reminders that surrogacy shouldn't be merely regulated; it should be illegal.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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·Global surrogacy projected to be a $79 billion industry in 5 years
Disturbingly, the surrogacy and IVF industries in the U.S. have become lucrative businesses in the global marketplace, with surrogacy expected to experience explosive growth over the coming years due to several factors.
The practice of global surrogacy is growing and is projected to become a $79 billion industry by 2031.
In the U.S. there are scant federal regulations for either IVF or surrogacy.
From 2013-2022, the CDC reported an approximately 176% increase in the use of gestational carrier surrogacy.
In most wealthy European countries, surrogacy is banned. It is also banned in places like China and Taiwan, which is why many foreign nationals are now seeking out American surrogates. This means that children born to American surrogates (who have parents who are not citizens of the U.S.) are automatically American citizens.
Regardless of whether IVF is used or whether money is exchanged, surrogacy violates the human rights of the child who is conceived.
The widespread acceptance and use of IVF and surrogacy have commercialized the production of human life — treating human beings as objects to be purchased and negotiated — as evidenced by business growth projections.
According to the surrogacy agency, Angels Creation Reproductive Center (ACRC) Global Fertility Holding Group, surrogacy is growing for several reasons, including “improved IVF success rates, greater social acceptance, expanded insurance coverage, and growing awareness among LGBTQIA+ couples and individuals facing infertility challenges.”
In the U.S. there are scant federal regulations for either IVF or surrogacy. Most regulations, if any, are on the state level. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) confirms this reality, stating:
“In the U.S., GC [gestational carriers] arrangements are governed under state-specific statutes, court opinions, and regulatory policies. Many states statutorily permit GC arrangements; others have no statutes or case law specifically permitting or prohibiting GC usage, and some prohibit GC arrangements, making surrogacy contracts void and unenforceable. To date, there exists no overarching federal statute governing the use of GCs.”
However, since the majority of surrogates use IVF, there is some data that is collected and reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and is reported as the number of embryo transfer cycles used by a gestational carrier surrogate.
It is important to note that this data makes no indication of how many embryos were used, destroyed, discarded or miscarried in the process; how many live births resulted; or how many embryos were created for the purpose of using surrogacy. It merely reports the number of transfer cycles that used a surrogate.
From 2013-2022, the CDC reported an approximately 176% increase in the use of gestational carrier surrogacy. (2013: 3,517, 2022: 9,734). The ASRM, which also receives data from participating IVF clinics across the U.S., reported a staggering 648% increase from 2004 to 2023.
Last month, during a BBC News report, Washington Sun reporter Emi Nietfeld said that the U.S. surrogacy market is “estimated to be a $9 billion industry in 2026, up from $5 billion two years ago.”
Nietfeld notes that in most wealthy European countries, surrogacy is banned.
The BBC reported that Italy, Spain, France, and Germany are some of the European countries which “outlaw all forms of surrogacy.”
In many eastern countries like China and Taiwan, surrogacy is also outlawed. Live Action News recently reported on a study which showed that “nearly one-third of intended parents in the United States are foreign nationals, and 40% of them are Chinese.”
As Nietfeld’s reporting suggests, the surrogacy market is very profitable – so much so, that its growth trends and forecasts are tracked and analyzed globally like other business ventures.
Mordor Intelligence estimated that the global surrogacy market size will grow from $23.66 billion (2025) to $28.91 billion (2026). Mordor lists projections for 2031 at a staggering $78.68 billion and reports the industry’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR), which helps to measure estimated average growth over time, at 22.19% from 2026-2031.
Mordor also reports:
In 2025, IVF was attributed to 66.12% of the surrogacy market size and “is expected to advance at a 24.42% CAGR through 2031.”
A breakdown of intended parents showed that heterosexual couples represented 76.05% in 2025. Same-sex couples accounted for roughly 14% of reported intended parents but represented the estimated “fastest growth at 22.68% CAGR to 2031.”
Since surrogacy is allowed in the U.S., American women have become a prime target for wealthy international buyers.
Nietfeld points to the lack of laws restricting surrogacy and IVF practices in the U.S. as one of the reasons why people from around the world are using U.S. women as surrogates.
“Sex selection is a routine part of IVF… you can become a surrogate [intended] parent if you’re old, if you’re single, the child doesn’t have to be genetically related to you [the intended parent] at all. And you can have as many kids as you want,” she reported.
But there’s another incentive. “One big draw about surrogacy in America, which is that any child born here, even if it’s via surrogacy, automatically receives citizenship. And that American passport is a huge benefit to many parents from other countries,” Nietfeld stated.
Concerns over international surrogacy continue to rise. Live Action News has reported on recent cases:
A Chinese couple who acquired 21 children through surrogacy; the couple was recently arrested and charged with child abuse
An Army veteran secretly pairing Chinese citizens with American surrogates
A website geared towards Chinese nationals that targets American surrogates
Recently, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick issued a formal directive to state Senators, known as an interim charge, to investigate concerns with international surrogacy in the state. In response, the state Senate’s Health and Human Services (HHS) committee held a fact-finding hearing in July.
During the hearing, Dr. Tara Das with the Texas HHS State Registrar of Vital Statistics department reported that from 2016 to 2025, the state experienced a nearly 170% increase in reported surrogate related births.
The exact number of international surrogacy cases in Texas is unknown. State agency officials explained that currently Texas is not made aware of surrogacy contracts and births until after a child is born. Das explained that all birth certificate information listed under the mother is referring to the woman who delivers the child and explained that is the “guidance that is provided at the national level.”
After the child is born, in accordance with Texas Family Code, Chapter 160, the surrogacy agreement must be validated by the courts then the intended mother and father are named as the parents and placed on the birth certificate.
Jennifer Lahl, registered nurse and founder of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, also testified that some surrogacy services “... explicitly market their services to global clients, offering them [international clients] travel support, visa help, and turning their trip into a vacation.”
Lahl further claimed that one of the primary targets of the international surrogacy market is “military wives for their wombs.”
Senator Lois Kolkhorst, chair of the HHS committee, posed a hypothetical question to Lahl, asking if any person from around the world could simply google any surrogate company by typing, “I want an American surrogate.”
Lahl affirmed Kolkhorst's assumption, stating, “... And you can say, I want a Danish sperm…and you could say I want an egg donor from Columbia because I want a smart, Ivy league egg donor…” and essentially construct a 'designer' child.
“Many European countries prohibit surrogacy because they recognize that the human body, motherhood, and the parent child relationship should not be subjects of a contract or a transaction,” Lahl stated, further noting that “French law effectively treats surrogacy as a form of prohibited commodification, akin to exploitation or slavery like practices.”
When asked by Kolkhorst if there were any cases of suspected abuse or neglect regarding surrogacy cases in the state, Audrey O’Neil with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) reported that since May 2025, three cases of abuse associated with surrogacy were reported. In two of the cases, the intended parents were non-citizens, and in the third the intended parent was an American with a “serious history of child abuse.”
The desire to have children is good and natural; however, no one has the right to obtain a child.
Surrogacy is a grave violation of human dignity, and dehumanizes both the child and the woman by treating them as objects — like a commodity to be commissioned and used in a monetary exchange to fulfill the desires of adults. Regardless of whether IVF is used or whether money is exchanged, it violates the human rights of the child who is conceived.
The global surrogacy market and increasing concerns with the growing number of scandalous international surrogacy cases serve as reminders that surrogacy shouldn't be merely regulated; it should be illegal.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Nancy Flanders
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·Pop Culture
Sheena Rodriguez
·Politics
Sheena Rodriguez
·Investigative
Sheena Rodriguez
·Issues
Sheena Rodriguez
·