Indian surrogacy is now a half-billion dollar industry. In Doree Shafrir's new article, Outsourcing Pregnancy, she examines why so many American couples—especially gay men—are having children abroad for less money and with fewer headaches.

Doree Shafrir writes:
Mike Griebe and Brad Fister had tried everything to have a child. They explored adoption. After searching online, they came across the Web site for Surrogacy Abroad, a Chicago agency run by Benhur Samson that guides foreign couples through the process of hiring a surrogate mother in India.

Samson's agency is one of the few to specifically target gay couples. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India in July; even though it was rarely prosecuted, it was still a social taboo until a few years ago, says Dr. Samit Sekhar, the embryologist at the Kiran Infertility Centre in Hyderabad, which works with Samson's agency. "For us, it doesn't make any difference," he says of the couple's sexual orientation. However, the surrogate "doesn't know if she's carrying for a gay couple or not." He said that Kiran has delivered 24 babies via surrogates, with around nine of those going to gay couples. READ MORE