Experiences and Meanings of Surrogate Pregnancy Among Gay Israeli Men Who Become Parents Through Overseas Surrogacy

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of single gay men and gay men who raise children in couples who have created their families through surrogacy procedures in different countries and cultural contexts. The analysis of 39 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with these fathers suggests that the effects of medicalized reproduction on these men are twofold. Medicalized reproduction leads these men, on one hand, to feel alienated from surrogate pregnancy and the fetus, and on the other hand, to contribute to the construction of a new form of intimacy between the surrogates and the newborns. This highlights the paradoxical character of overseas surrogacy, which resonates with other forms of reproductive procedures. The importance of these findings is examined by means of a qualitative paradigm, through which we stress the complex impacts of medicalization on gestation, childbirth, and transition to parenthood among ART (i.e.: Assisted Reproduction Technologies) participants, in particular on gay men.

Keywords: childbirth; gay-fathers; gestation; mediacalization; surrogacy.