Trent Franks offered $5 million, but how much does hiring a surrogate really cost?

Elise Solé
Trent Franks resigned from Congress due to claims that he asked female colleagues to be a surrogate mother to his unborn child. (Photo: Getty Images)
Trent Franks resigned from Congress due to claims that he asked female colleagues to be a surrogate mother to his unborn child. (Photo: Getty Images)

Republican Congressman Trent Franks resigned on Friday after two female staffers accused him of unwanted advances — including a $5 million payout for carrying his unborn child.

According to the Associated Press, a former colleague claimed Franks, 60, asked her four different times to be a surrogate for him and his wife, who are parents to 8-year-old twins, through surrogacy.

The anonymous female staffer, who rebuffed Franks’ requests, said the conversations took place last year, that she wasn’t comfortable reporting his behavior, and she resigned from her job fearing professional consequences.

“During my time there, I was asked a few times to look over a ‘contract’ to carry his child, and if I would conceive his child, I would be given $5 million,” the staffer told the Associated Press. The ex-staffer also claimed Franks approached another female colleague with the same request.

According to the AP, Franks said in a statement Thursday that he “became insensitive as to how the discussion of such an intensely personal topic might affect others” and he was remorseful for the“discussion of this option and process in the workplace.”

Twitter was buzzing about the eye-popping cost of Franks offer.

That said, the former politician from Arizona has a net worth of $33 million dollars, and, because he is a public figure, the financial incentive was likely a bid to maintain his privacy.

The typical cost of surrogacy — a process in which a woman carries a child for another couple — can run, on average, up to $120,000, says Candace Simpson, director of Extraordinary Conceptions, an international surrogacy and egg donor agency in Beverly Hills, Calif.

For couples who can’t conceive on their own, they can explore two types of surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy is when a woman is impregnated with the sperm of the donor, using her own eggs. Gestational surrogacy is when a woman is impregnated with the sperm and egg of the donor couple, using in vitro fertilization. Simpson says the latter method can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 more, due to the egg retrieval procedure, fertilization process, and embryo transfer.

That $120,000 price tag can include clinic fees, health insurance for the surrogate mother, the embryo transfer to the surrogate mother (in gestational surrogacy), a monthly allowance for the surrogate, and any expenses from a potential C-section if the mother isn’t able to deliver vaginally.

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