Exclusive | How legal surrogacy in NY has changed parents lives and why the battles not over yet for some

Surrogacy was once viewed as an expensive, last-resort option for families desperate to have children but unable to, often glamourized by celebrities — Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, and Jimmy Fallon all used surrogates.It’s an emotionally and financially draining — and often complex — journey, as demonstrated with the recent headline-making McKenna West news: the surrogate from Alaska who refused to terminate the pregnancy of the couple whose baby she was carrying and is currently in court because of it.Today, surrogacy is legal in 48 states and the District of Columbia (still illegal in Louisiana and Nebraska), with New York being one of the last states to legalize it a mere five years ago.Prior to its legalization, NY couples like Ashley and John Russ, desperate for kids, faced many uphill battles trying to complete their families — and continue to do so.When the couple decided to have a baby five years ago, they figured they would try and let nature take its course.But much to their disappointment, nature didn’t do its job. When she turned 38, Ashley went to a fertility clinic near her home outside Rochester, NY, where she learned that her egg count and quality were low, and her fallopian tubes were blocked. She wasn’t even a candidate for intrauterine insemination (IUI), during which sperm are placed directly into the uterus around the time of ovulation. The couple tried IVF; three rounds later, they only had one viable embryo.The devastating news was like a sucker punch. “That was our one chance of having a child who was genetically both of ours,” Ashley, 43, a consultant for a healthcare solutions company, told The Post.She felt hopeless.

She wanted to carry the baby herself, but more than that, she wanted the baby to be genetically hers. Since the then-38-year-old ran the risk of miscarrying, her last resort was finding a gestational surrogate to carry the baby for her. Unlike traditional surrogacy, where th...