HeyReprotech is on hiatus. But here's something a surrogate recently said to me...

HeyReprotech is on hiatus this week. Back August 3.

Below, a quote from a Canadian surrogate.

Artwork by Vicki Nerino

There's so much focus on our uterus, on our womb, and not wanting to pay for an organ. 

But what we do is so much more than that.

We're not allowed to be valued for our time. That model puts out an idea that we're not worth our time. Our time does not matter. We're not worth anything except what we are as an organ.

I was never told before this contract that all these people are going to be making money. But we are not allowed to. I didn't even think about that. The fees are paid without me looking. I don't know how much it costs. Somebody got paid to insert an embryo in me.

I just started to think. 

I realized it had to do with inequality and discrimination. There are some that are free to earn and some that aren't. It's a multimillion dollar industry and everyone is capable of contributing altruistically. Why are some altruistic and why are some not?

Sheray Saugstad, a Canadian woman who acted as a surrogate, without pay, for a friend, and  founder of the First Mothers Surrogacy Support Foundation, a support group for surrogates.