Current Research

Helena Ragone's current research examines the meteoric rise in the rates of gestational surrogacy (where a surrogate gestates a couple's embryos) and the corresponding increase in egg donation. Her research explores the differences between anonymous egg donation programs (which are modeled on sperm donation) and "open" egg donation programs, i.e., where egg donor and couple select one another, and the implications these approaches have for the individuals involved and for the children that are produced by such arrangements.

When she began her research in 1988, gestational surrogacy was a relatively uncommon practice. The cost of procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), zygote interfallopian transfer (ZIFT) and gamete interfallopian transfer (GIFT) was high, and their relatively low success rates made them a poor choice. However, during the six-year period that followed, the practice of gestational surrogacy in the United States increased at a rather remarkable rate, from less than 5 percent of all surrogate arrangements to 50 percent as of 1994 (and increasing). The growing prevalence of gestational surrogacy is, in part, guided by recent legal precedents in which a surrogate who does not contribute an ovum toward the creation of a child has a significantly reduced possibility of being awarded custody in the event she reneges on her contract and attempts to retain custody of the child. However, while legal factors have certainly contributed to the meteoric rise in the rate of gestational surrogacy, it should be remembered that for couples the ability to crate a child who is genetically related to both parents is the primary reason that gestational surrogacy continues to grow in popularity. To date, approximately 30% of all gestational surrogacy arrangements involve matching couples and surrogates from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Couples from certain racial, ethnic, and religious groups (such as Japanese, Taiwanese, and Jewish), were rarely able to locate women from these groups who were willing to serve in the capacity of surrogate; they were able to find women who were willing to donate their ova, however. Thus, couples from particular ethnic, racial, or religious groups who are seeking donors from those groups often pursue ovum donation and gestational surrogacy.

Published Articles

Article from "Surrogate Motherhood"