It’s natural for couples to decide that a new phase of their lives together should be starting a family. But while many couples can go the traditional route of allowing the woman in the relationship to become pregnant, for others, there are obstacles. Medical conditions may put both mother and child at risk, thus making pregnancy inadvisable. In contrast, others may no longer be able to bear children due to life-saving surgeries, such as hysterectomies, that remove the uterus to fight cancer.
An alternative to traditional pregnancy is adoption, but surrogacy is the other route for those who want their own newborn. Surrogacy is where another woman medically evaluated as suitable agrees to become pregnant on behalf of the hopeful parents. When the baby is born, the infant is then united with those parents. However, for some couples, one of the choices they make early on in this process is to undertake this journey not in their own country of residence but in another nation. Tbilisi, in the European nation of Georgia, is one of these popular destinations, and a primary reason is cost.
Control Your Surrogacy Expenses
It is unavoidable that compared to a traditional pregnancy, going the route of surrogacy will cost more. If hopeful parents want more choices, a compensated surrogacy means that the surrogate mother is paid for her critical role in the process, above and beyond the expected financial support for living and medical expenses as the pregnancy progresses.
On top of this, the type of surrogacy that is chosen also plays a big role in controlling costs. The most expensive type of surrogacy is in vitro fertilization, or IVF, which uses a donor egg and sperm—usually from the hopeful parents, and requires lab-supervised fertilization, then implantation in the surrogate mother. Additional expenses may be added to this, such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis to screen for possible congenital disorders, such as cystic fibrosis if one of the couple has a family history of such conditions. Additional costs may also factor in if frozen eggs or sperm are required that must be transported from their storage facility and prepped for lab use.
The Tbilisi Difference
For several reasons, Tbilisi, the capital city of the Eastern European nation of Georgia, is both a popular and cost-effective destination for hopeful parents. One of the chief ways that savings are incurred is due to the overall lower cost of the different aspects of surrogacy.
For example, while Tbilisi has a broad selection of medically suitable women eligible for compensated surrogacy, the cost of compensation in the country of Georgia would be much lower than what would be required for a surrogate mother in the United States. Lower living costs and different scales of economy mean that what would be considered a fair compensatory amount in Tbilisi would be lower than in other nations.
Currency Conversion
Added to this is the additional factor of differences in currency. While Tbilisi accepts all forms of global currency, it has its own legal tender, the lari. This is because Georgia is not a member of the European Union, so it does not use the Euro, though it accepts Euros just as readily as any other country.
As a result of this, other countries with stronger currencies, such as the United States with its dollar, the United Kingdom with its Sterling Pound, and even European Union member nations utilizing the Euro, all get more value out of their currencies when converted over to the local lari. This means that in addition to paying less than required in the country of residence, even more savings are accrued through currency conversion, stretching that dollar, pound, euro, or other currency even further for residents of some countries.
More Experience
Another benefit of choosing Tbilisi for surrogacy is the lower costs that can be enjoyed due to a mature surrogacy environment. Surrogacy is widely practiced in the country, to the point where hopeful parents have their rights recognized in the Georgian constitution, provided all laws are observed. The medical industry and the various surrogacy agencies and clinics have a lot of experience dealing with foreign couples and thus have extensive resources available for everything from communication requirements to the legal protocol required for different countries to ensure the newborns will be correctly awarded citizenship at the country of residence upon return.
All of this means that the process of scheduling travel, meetings, medical care, and additional concerns such as lab work or logistics can all be smoothly handled with minimal time and fuss. The savings in time and communication often result in savings for the bank account as well, as there are no unaccounted-for emergencies or circumstances that would suddenly require an extra expense, such as legal intervention if a child is not permitted to enter the chosen country of residence due to a lack of proper legal preparation before return.