Fertility service costs, legal agreements and fears of complications are factors to consider when thinking about surrogacy. Education can help prepare you for that decision by teaching you what to expect from the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer—the first steps towards parenthood if it’s right for your family. 

For each future parent who decides to use surrogacy, an important question: what is the success rate of surrogacy? For many couples or individuals, pursuing surrogacy can be complicated. So how successful is surrogacy? Because the legal regulations on surrogacy are inconsistent in various countries, clinics can make claims about their success rates that aren't necessarily valid.

Although a reputable clinic will not post false information about their successes, it is common for clinics (even in the United States) to exaggerate their statistics. They tend to be silent on less dramatic cases or even omit them completely.

While it is required that American clinics report to the CDC when they do ART cycles, not all of them actually follow this guideline. Some less reputable clinics will only present favorable results and hide unfavorable data from the government agency so as not to jeopardize their chances at grants or other funding in future years. The CDC performs yearly audits and site visits for ART clinics to make sure that the service available there is safe.

One reason that it is difficult to know about surrogacy success rates with any degree of certainty is because the statistics are usually several years old. Surrogacy success rates typically include IVF cycles that resulted in pregnancy and live births (as well as frozen embryo transfers done at a later time, if the intended parent’s fertility plans called for it).

Unlike other procedures, which can produce immediate results—such as cosmetic surgery or dental work—surrogacy research is lengthy and may take up to three years before it’s published.

What Is The Success Rate For Surrogacy

There are many different types of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy procedures, all with varying success rates. The most successful IVF procedure will consist of a male donor whose sperm has been thoroughly evaluated, an egg donor who is young and has had several previous pregnancies without complications, and a surrogate mother who herself is young with no history of infertility. In the United States, success rates for in vitro fertilization are 75%–85%, depending on whether embryos of high or low quality were used.

When it comes to in vitro fertilization, surrogacy clinics report that 75% of all attempts are successful if the procedure is performed in the US or 65% if done abroad. Success rates using fresh and frozen embryos are now about the same, thanks to new freezing techniques. The rate at which a surrogate becomes pregnant is 95%.

In some cases, the clinic only will report surrogacy statistics for cases in which PGD was performed. The clinic’s success rates can be as high as 85%, but it does not tell patients that its incredible results require additional medical procedures and cost.

However, we work only with trusted clinics. We care about all our work, which is to make you happy. 

How Successful Is Surrogacy: Official Success Statistics

If you consider the success rate of each step in the IVF and Surrogacy procedure (including subsequent embryo transfers with frozen embryos), it's clear that more births result from these procedures than would be achieved using less-advanced methods.

We have a record of success in more than 95% of our cases. Typically, cases in which embryos were transferred multiple times and did not result in a viable pregnancy are those where it was later discovered that the male genetic contributor had damaged sperm; the egg donor was unable to provide enough healthy eggs for use; or circumstances prevented continued attempts at implanting.

There is no reason to think that an IVF and surrogacy procedure would not be 100% successful if the sperm donor was healthy, and the egg donor had previous successful donations resulting in pregnancies.

Hopefully we were able to explain what is the success rate for surrogacy. Let's start your journey towards the family of your dream!