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When I heard that there is a new documentary about surrogacy titled Made in Boise, I wasn’t sure what to think or expect. As a long time supporter of surrogacy, I have come to brace myself for such critical comments as “surrogacy exploits women” or “it’s a way rich people can make babies.” Hence it was with caution and a “wait and see” approach that I ventured off this week to a screening of Made in Boise at a Boston Globe documentary film festival.

So here is the good news: Made in Boise presents a largely positive picture of surrogacy. The beautifully filmed and edited documentary follows four gestational carriers, all level headed, responsible, caring and compassionate women. Like the “GC’s” I have known, they are good communicators who genuinely like and care for their “IP’s.” Similarly, the IP’s—a gay couple, a single man and two heterosexual couples—all have compelling reasons for seeking surrogates and all interact with their GC’s with kindness and respect. And without giving too much of the story away, the collaborative efforts of GC’s and IP’s bring healthy and long awaited babies into the world.
Although I enjoyed the film and left the theatre pleased that surrogacy was presented in such a positive way, my reaction to Made in Boise was not all positive. Having worked in the field for many years, I know that surrogacy is complicated. In my experience, women who become GC’s think about it for many years and go through an arduous screening process before being matched with IP’s.

The anti-gay discrimination which Jonathan Gregg and James Derek Mize are ensnared in is an awful predicament which no new parent should have to endure. By refusing to confer US citizenship on their daughter who has a court-ordered birth certificate listing both fathers as parents (their daughter Simone was born in the UK to a surrogate mother who has no genetic link to the child – an anonymous egg donor and sperm from Gregg created the embryo), the State Department is trying to impose its view of morality via a tortured interpretation of federal immigration statutes. For other same-sex couples contemplating having a baby with the assistance of a surrogate mother (and unwilling to wait out the end of this Administration and its crackdown on human rights), it would be a good idea to focus on finding a carrier within an acceptable US state. The baby would be a US citizen at birth and the Trump Administration would stay out of your family’s business.