1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"The Most Wanted Surrogates in the World" by Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Shellmann.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
November 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
The wild, wild west of the fertility industry — a highly profitable, loosely regulated multi-million-dollar enterprise — has been extensively reported on. But Glamour's two-year investigation by reporters Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann uncovered a little-known yet explosive corner of the practice: the growing phenomenon of military wives serving as surrogate mothers. (Even though active-duty armed forces members are less than one percent of the U.S. population, military wives constitute roughly 19 percent of all surrogate moms, according to one survey.) And as "The Most Wanted Surrogates in the World" revealed, such mothers are hotly in demand. While civilian insurance companies generally don't cover surrogate births, the taxpayer-funded insurance provided to all military families does often pay for surrogacy — making military wives a low-cost alternative for would-be parents. The story looks objectively at a lightning-rod topic and considers it from all points of view. Glamour's writers talked to dozens of surrogates, revealing unique motivations for each. There were patriotic families struggling on their Army pay who believed they were entitled to surrogate-birth coverage because of their husbands' service to their country. And there were women whose mission in life is to bring joy to childless couples — but who recoiled at the thought of deceiving Tricare, the military insurance provider. After interviewing dozens more sources, including surrogacy clinic personnel, parents and, of course Tricare, Nosheen and Schellmann drew a full and frank portrait of how these baby deals get done. The article resonated strongly with Glamour readers, who, as women, are constantly wrestling with questions about motherhood, fertility, timing of child rearing and even whether to have children. This news report grapples with the complex emotions of these issues, and with the sheer cost of surrogate pregnancies, as every American taxpayer helps foot the bill for this particular form of family-making.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The reporters gathered data from numerous U.S. surrogacy agencies about the number of surrogates who are military wives, and got from the national surrogacy trade organization the most accurate annual tallies of surrogate births in this country. Nosheen and Schellmann then talked to several surrogacy experts in academia to confirm the accuracy of the numbers.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
The reporters talked to approximately 25 surrogate mothers, 15 surrogacy agencies and numerous would-be parents, as well as 25 experts in both the surrogacy industry and in academia. They also interviewed executives at Tricare, the military insurance provider. In total they talked to about 70 people.
6. Results (if any).
The story aroused a firestorm of reaction — pro and con — when it appeared in the magazine and in a special follow-up report on Good Morning America. Numerous blogs debated the merits of military surrogacy. The vocal reaction to the story from Glamour readers showed that it had hit a major nerve. Some, like Allison from Denver, praised the surrogates: "[Beth] Goodman, and every other surrogate mother out there, is an inspiration to those cheated out of their own opportunity to naturally have children." But others, like Amy from Alaska, wrote: "As a military wife and taxpayer, I'm really disappointed in those who use their Tricare benefit for their surrogate pregnancy&. They are also being selfish. They have not thought through the long-term ramifications this could have to our benefits and benefit costs as a military dependent." And Dawn, a reader from Dallas, put it this way: "Everybody who sits at home and watches as people sacrifice everything should be wanting raises for our military so these women would not have to look at surrogacy as a choice for income." The result? A fierce debate of two vital, contemporary issues: how America deals with nontraditional pregnancies, and how we compensate military families. In January 2011 a Tricare spokesperson told Schellmann that currently the company has no changes in the works to clarify its surrogacy policy. Tricare added that only the Department of Defense can make changes to Tricare's policy and that new rules are scheduled to come out in February 2011. Tricare does not know whether the policy on surrogacy will be affected.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
There were no corrections or clarifications to the story nor any challenges to its accuracy.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
"Trust your gut instinct that you have a story," says Schellmann. "Keep talking to people, record all your conversations — with your interviewee's permission, of course — and stay on your quest until you find those insiders in the business who are not afraid to talk. We found numerous lawyers who deal with surrogacy agencies and know the lay of the land; they talked off the record but were able to lead us to the sources who would be quoted — and who made the story."