By MARTHA WILLIAMS, US REAL ESTATE & CONSUMER REPORTER
Published: 01:47 GMT, 2 March 2026 | Updated: 01:47 GMT, 2 March 2026
When Briana Hernandez first watched her best friend struggle with infertility, she had no idea it would lead her to carry someone else's child.
Now 31, the Arizona native who already had two children of her own said becoming a surrogate was 'one of the most life-changing experiences' of her life - and one that paid her up to $75,000.
But while she described the journey as beautiful and rewarding, she also warned of a dark side to the surrogacy industry that most people don't see.
According to Hernandez, who now lives in Ohio, when surrogacy arrangements are not managed with rigorous ethical and medical oversight, the consequences can be devastating.
Surrogates may be left to care for children they never intended to raise, or face life-threatening complications during childbirth because they were not properly screened and should never have been approved to carry a pregnancy in the first place.
'I would never tell someone not to be a surrogate,' Hernandez told the Daily Mail. 'If you're in the right mental space, it can be completely life-changing. But there's so much people don't realize goes into it.'
Hernandez, who is a single mother, said her journey began after seeing someone close to her battle infertility. 'I just watched one of my best friends struggle with conceiving,' she said. 'Around the same time, a girl I went to high school with had been a surrogate. I reached out to her, and after talking to her, I knew this was something I wanted to do.'
Unlike some perceptions of surrogacy, women must have already carried and delivered their own children before being approved by most reputable agencies.
When Briana Hernandez first watched her best friend struggle with infertility, she had no idea it would lead her to carry someone else's child
'They want to know your body can handle pregnancy,' she said. 'Intended parents are paying a lot of money - they need to know you're capable.'
In the US, gestational surrogacy typically costs intended parents between $100,000 and $150,000 when medical procedures, legal fees, agency costs and surrogate compensation are also included. It varies by state and medical complexity.
While Hernandez conceived her own children naturally, becoming a surrogate required in vitro fertilization (IVF).
'Basically, you have to trick your body into thinking it's pregnant,' she explained. 'When you're pregnant naturally, your body produces estrogen and progesterone. When you're not, you have to take estrogen pills and progesterone shots every day.'
The embryo - created in a lab using the intended mother's egg and father's sperm - was then transferred to her uterus. 'The baby is 100 percent theirs,' she said. 'I'm just carrying.'
Compensation varies widely by agency and state. Hernandez says first-time surrogates typically earn between $40,000 and $50,000, but her agency paid between $65,000 and $75,000.
'All my medical expenses were covered. Travel was covered. I didn't pay a dollar out of pocket,' she said. 'There's also allowances for maternity clothes and things like that.'
But she insists money wasn't her primary motivation. 'Yes, there's a financial aspect,' she admitted. 'But I wanted to make someone a mom who couldn't do it herself.'
Hernandez, an Arizona native turned Ohio mom of two, says becoming a surrogate was 'one of the most life-changing experiences' of her life - and one that paid her up to $75,000
Despite carrying a baby for nine months, Hernandez says she never struggled with giving the child to his biological parents.
'Not at all,' she said when asked if it was difficult. 'I never had any attachment like, "Oh, I want to keep him." I went into it understanding this is not my baby.'
Both intended parents were present in the delivery room. 'Dad cut the umbilical cord,' she recalled. 'The baby went straight to them for skin-to-skin. Watching them cry and become parents - it still shocks me when I think about it.'
She even shared a hospital room overnight with the new mother. 'It felt like our last bonding moment before they took their baby home.'
But Hernandez says not all surrogacy stories are so positive.
