New York Post: How Surrogacy Matching Really Works
Understanding the Surrogacy Process
Surrogacy can make parenthood possible for people who cannot safely carry a pregnancy themselves, but understanding how the process works can feel overwhelming at first.
In a New York Post feature exploring gestational surrogacy, Family Match Consulting founder Stephanie Levich helped break down the process, from finding the right surrogate and determining whether a candidate meets basic qualifications to medical review, matching, and preparing for the relationship ahead.
Gestational Surrogacy Today
One of the first distinctions Levich explained is the difference between traditional and gestational surrogacy.
While traditional surrogacy involves a surrogate using her own egg, the vast majority of surrogacy arrangements today involve a gestational carrier who has no genetic relationship to the baby she carries. The embryo is created using eggs and sperm from the intended parents and/or donors and is then transferred to the surrogate.
For intended parents, however, understanding the medical process is only one part of preparing for surrogacy.
Finding the Right Surrogate
The New York Post also explored one of the biggest challenges intended parents face: finding the right person to carry their child.
Levich explained that agencies approach matching differently, with some maintaining waitlists and others presenting potential candidates as they become available.
Family Match Consulting was created to give intended parents a broader approach. Rather than limiting a search to a single surrogacy agency, FMC works across a nationwide network of trusted agencies to identify potential matches based on each family’s priorities and criteria.
But finding a potential surrogate is only the beginning.
Evaluating a Potential Match
A surrogate candidate must meet important medical, psychological, and lifestyle qualifications before moving forward.
As Levich explained to the New York Post, the process includes reviewing a candidate’s previous pregnancies and medical records before she undergoes formal medical screening with the intended parents’ fertility clinic.
Medical screening can result in different outcomes. A surrogate may be cleared to proceed, a treatable issue may need to be addressed before moving forward, or something may be discovered that prevents her from safely serving as a surrogate.
That evaluation is essential. The goal isn’t simply to make a match quickly, but to identify a surrogate who is medically appropriate and well aligned with the intended parents.
Matching Is About More Than Medical Qualifications
A successful surrogacy match also depends on whether the intended parents and surrogate share similar expectations for the experience.
During the match process, both sides have an opportunity to talk openly about what they envision. That can include communication throughout the pregnancy, involvement in appointments, expectations surrounding the birth, views on important pregnancy-related decisions, and the type of relationship everyone hopes to have during and after the pregnancy.
These conversations matter because surrogacy is an unusually personal relationship. A surrogate and intended parents are entering into something significant together, and both sides should feel informed, respected, and comfortable with the match before proceeding.
Protecting Everyone Involved
The New York Post also highlighted the safeguards built into a professionally managed surrogacy arrangement.
Once a match has been medically and psychologically approved, each party is represented by independent legal counsel. Attorneys prepare and negotiate a gestational carrier agreement outlining the parties’ rights, responsibilities, financial arrangements, and expectations.
These steps are not simply boxes to check. They exist to protect the intended parents, the surrogate, and ultimately the child being brought into the world.
Levich also emphasized that surrogate candidates should be financially stable before entering the process. Compensation should never be the reason someone needs to become a surrogate. Financial qualifications are one of several safeguards designed to reduce vulnerability and help ensure that a woman is pursuing surrogacy from a stable position.
A Relationship Built Around a Shared Goal
Perhaps the most personal part of the New York Post article comes at the end.
Levich described surrogacy as a “two-way street.” Intended parents are understandably focused on finally meeting their baby, but birth is also the culmination of an extraordinary experience for the woman who carried that child.
A surrogate deserves the opportunity to experience that moment, to see the baby she helped bring into the world and to say hello before saying goodbye.
It is a small moment within a much larger process, but it captures something important about surrogacy: when it is done thoughtfully, the relationship is built on mutual respect, clear expectations, and a shared understanding of why everyone is there.
The process may be complex, but the goal is beautifully simple: helping intended parents bring their baby home.
