Andy Cohen Surrogate

Andy Cohen expressed gratitude for the surrogate who carried and delivered his newborn daughter, Lucy. The Watch What Happens Live host expanded his family on the 29th of April 2022. The host took the opportunity to thank his surrogate on his show when he returned after welcoming his daughter. He remarked that he didn’t do it on his own and he was thanking his remarkable surrogate. While revealing that the surrogate was, in fact, in attendance on the show, revealing that she was in the front row while admitting what a partner and friend she had been to him. Cohen also reiterated his gratitude for his surrogate as well as the surrogacy laws in New York. He said he was grateful to the surrogate, grateful that she could carry his baby Lucy in New York State where surrogacy was legalized.

He commented that the law gave surrogates all the rights and protections that they strongly deserved, especially for gay couples. In New York, the Child-Parent Security Act (CPSA) which was passed in 2020, made gestational surrogacy legal as of 15th of February 2021. Cohen also revealed the meaning behind the name of his daughter, explaining that Louis was a big name in his family, as two of his great-grandfathers and his father were all named Louis. Stating that it was there the name Lucy was derived and that he had always loved the name. Cohen stated that his daughter’s middle name, Eve, was taken from his mother who was named Evelyn. He shared his gratitude for all the support that he had received since welcoming the newest addition to his family.

In addition to Lucy, Cohen is also father to a son, Benjamin, whom he also welcomed via surrogacy in 2019. He welcomed his son in Los Angeles. He had to move there and filmed segments of his show there to legally facilitate his son’s birth. The executive producer revealed that the surrogacy procedure was illegal in New York as of 2020, revealing that he did his part in getting the law passed. Which eventually led to him having his daughter Lucy in the state through gestational surrogacy.

He also credited New York Governor Cuomo for playing a part in the passing of the law. As more celebrities share more about their family planning processes and their use of surrogacy, the stigma is slowly being removed from the practice, and there is a rise in its popularity. These stories of these celebrities overcoming infertility, and miscarriages and eventually achieving their desire of having children will inspire others that are undergoing the same challenges.

What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is the process where a woman that is referred to as the surrogate agrees to carry and deliver a child for another individual or couple that is known as the intended parent or parents. The process of surrogacy is very complicated requiring substantial financial, emotional as well as psychological investments from the intended parents. The surrogate also requires strong mental and psychological assessments to determine her suitability for the procedure. The process requires thorough preparations from the intended parents and up-to-date legal advice on the rules guiding the process in their region or the region in which they want to carry out the process.

What are the types of surrogacy?

There are two generally recognized forms of surrogacy, they include:

Traditional or altruistic surrogacy 

In this type of surrogacy, the surrogate is artificially inseminated with the sperm from the intended father, leading to pregnancy. In this type of surrogacy, there is usually no form of compensation, but the medical expenses of the surrogate are covered by the intended parents. It is usually seen as the less expensive form of surrogacy. However, since the egg used in the pregnancy is from the surrogate, there is a biological link or connection between her and the baby. This connection gives the surrogate a claim of parenthood on the baby, and this creates a legal complication in the instance that the surrogate changes her mind about giving up the baby after delivery. For this reason, this type of surrogacy is unpopular with fertility clinics that offer surrogacy services.

Gestational or commercial surrogacy 

In this form of surrogacy, the sperm and the egg used in the creation of the embryo are obtained from the intended parents. The fertilization occurs in the lab through IVF. The baby is also grown for a few days, after which the transfer into the uterus of the surrogate takes place. The surrogate then carries and delivers the baby and then hands the baby over to the intended parents.

This type of surrogacy creates no biological link between the baby and the surrogate. Hence, she has no claim of parenthood on the baby. For this reason, there would be no instance of legal complications, and it is why it is preferred by fertility clinics that offer surrogacy services. This type of surrogacy is much more expensive than traditional surrogacy, due to the additional processes involved, as well as the fact that there is a financial compensation that is usually agreed upon at the beginning of the surrogacy process for the surrogate.

Surrogacy regulations

Surrogacy is a controversial medical practice and hence does not have a unified regulation globally. In some cases, in the same country, different regions and states will have different regulations about surrogacy. As seen in the case of Cohen, where in 2019, it was legal to have commercial surrogacy in Los Angeles, and not in New York, with both states being in the same country. In countries like India, surrogacy is banned while in countries like Georgia and Russia, surrogacy is legalized but is strictly regulated.

In other countries like Cyprus, Nigeria and Kenya, there are no specific laws that guide the practice of surrogacy, which makes the process easier for intending parents. For this reason, international parents in countries that do not have favourable surrogacy laws, usually go to other countries that do. This is made easier by medical health travel agencies or meditour agencies, who offer surrogacy as a form of overseas medical treatment to these intending couples. This is also welcomed by those countries as a form of health tourism or medical tourism that brings revenue to them.