*UPDATED 2024* Bill Houghton talks about surrogacy in Colombia. Our most popular program, and a new international hub for same-sex families.
Now I always tell clients that there are no perfect destinations for surrogacy, and as you weigh your options worldwide every country has its unique benefits and its drawbacks. The way that you decide where you should pursue your surrogacy journey is by looking at the advantages and deciding which of those are important and meaningful for you. Then you look at the disadvantages and you decide whether or not any of those are frivolous or unimportant. That allows you to decide which destination is most appropriate for your specific needs.
At the moment Colombia is the most popular international program that we have because there are a lot of advantages to surrogacy in Colombia and very few disadvantages.
Benefit #1.
The biggest benefit of surrogacy in Colombia is that the medical care system is outstanding. The WHO which tracks the quality of medical care in countries worldwide ranks Colombia 22nd in the world for the quality of healthcare. That puts Columbia right around Sweden in terms of how well they take care of their population.
Benefit #2.
Colombia has a comprehensive National Health Service which is extraordinary and covers the cost of your pregnancy and the delivery and any complications to the surrogate or to the baby. This is important when you're comparing Colombia to other destinations including Mexico and the United states which don't have National Health services. In those countries you need to provide private health insurance for your surrogate and that comes with a variety of complications.
Colombia is also a known destination for medical tourism internationally the medical facilities in the country are outstanding you know something like 75% of the most prestigious highest rated medical facilities there are central and South America are located in and around Bogota. As a result Bogota and Colombia generally has become an established destination for medical tourism
Benefit #3.
The next benefit is that Colombia has a reasonably progressive culture you know this is very supportive of same-sex families and same sex couples. Colombia has gay marriage, gay adoption, gay family rights, nondiscrimination laws at all level of the government. There's a provision in the Colombian constitution that guarantees equal protection for alternative families, including families that are conceived by “scientific methods”. So assisted reproduction is generally accepted in Colombia and now that includes
Benefit #4.
The fourth benefit of a surrogacy program in Colombia is the cost you know Colombia is one of the more affordable destinations worldwide and we'll get more into the exact cost of surrogacy in Colombia in a bit but suffice to say that the cost of living in Colombia is relatively low so the cost of hiring a surrogate is proportionately lower in general a surrogacy program in Colombia is going to be 1/2 to 1/3 of a similar program in the united states.
Benefit #5.
The final benefit of Colombia is that there is a legal framework supplied by a constitutional court decision from 2009 and what the court said was that there is no provision in the constitution or in any law in Colombia. That would suggest that surrogacy is not against public policy in the country and so the court ruled that surrogacy agreements and surrogacy arrangements generally were valid and enforceable contracts under the constitution they also ruled that babies born through surrogacy have equal rights including rights to their biological and genetic heritage.
While that Constitutional Court decision doesn't have the exact same weight there's actual legislation, it does offer an acknowledgement at a national level in Colombia that surrogacy is accepted and that surrogacy agreements are valid and are not contrary to the country's public policy.
That puts Columbia miles ahead of us of a lot of countries where surrogacy just totally unregulated including some countries where surrogacy may be considered to be contrary to the local values.
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