Courtesy of those photographed

"We already have 200 surrogates in the pool, and the list has only grown"

Naama Raanan has known for years that once she finishes starting her family, she will become a surrogate mother.

Until that happens, her husband Nadav has set up a start-up that connects well-known surrogate parents and donates eggs around the world.

Anat Nissani

13/05/2022

13/05/2022

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A few days after giving birth to her eldest daughter, still recovering from the birth, Naama Raanan decided she wanted to be a surrogate mother.

It's a little hard to imagine how a woman who has just given birth immediately thinks of another pregnancy, and not just a pregnancy but one she carries for others, but for Naama it seems like it was really an inner reading that burns in her even today, after the birth of her third daughter.

"The pregnancy and birth of my eldest daughter went through quite easily," she says, "and I remember in the very first days after the birth I said to myself: Wow, I'm lucky, not everyone has that luck. There are women who can not. It was just our first girl, "We were at the beginning of starting a family so I did not turn it into an act but I felt that if I had the physical and mental ability to do it for someone else - it was my best act in the world. It can not remain that easy just for me."

"I remember that at first, when she came and told me she wanted to be a surrogate, I laughed," says Nadav Raanan, Naama's husband.

"I did not understand where this decision came from. She told me that this is what she wants to do and that she should support her, and I told her yes, until we get to that you will probably forget. But then the third birth came and she says to me: I have not forgotten."

"First of all I know surrogates, read about it a lot and am interested. The process in the country is very controlled, and not everyone who wants to be a surrogate can. It starts with a committee and accompanied by psychologists. It really starts with the language and semantics used. You do not give or separate a baby but return the baby to his parents, and this semantics permeates throughout the pregnancy. "For some refined moment of happy parents with their own biological baby. It converges into that moment."

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Naama and Nadav Raanan (Photo: courtesy of those photographed)

Although Naama's dream of surrogacy has not yet been realized, for her it is only a matter of time.

This week the Ministry of Health approved for proud couples to produce and bring in embryos from abroad - the law actually allows surrogacy in the country, but did not allow the option to bring in embryos from abroad.

This progress is in sync with enthusiasm for the issue of surrogacy on the part of Israeli women as well - this is the completely new equivalent of "donating a kidney".

The increase in this demand and desire requires a safe regulation and platform that will prevent exploitation, discouragement and a safe and effective process - this is actually the motivation of Nadav and his wife and therefore they set up the venture. Accompanying every pregnancy will not hurt, God forbid, their desire to start their own family.

Meanwhile, while she and Nadav are debating whether to expand their family for the fourth time, Nadav has found his own way of contributing to the field.

"Over the years I began to get to know the field of surrogacy, the difficulties and the problems, and I realized that it is true that Naama has a biological and physiological ability - mine does not - help others to have a child, but I have another ability. I can build a platform to facilitate the field."

Nadav, an entrepreneur by profession, is a friend of Roni Schwartz Degani, a marketing woman who immediately connected with the subject.

"We got to know each other in a completely family way, through the children's kindergarten," she says. "Back. Take my abilities and invest them in a place that does good in the world."

Together, right at the height of the corona, the two created Expecting - a technology start-up that offers parents targeted online database for locating potential egg donors and surrogates, and allows them to connect with fertility agencies and clinics.

Roni: "The intended parents can go to our website, see the agency database and choose which agency they want to work with, or enter the surrogacy database and actually view the profiles and examine them according to their preferences. Each profile includes a picture and basic information about the surrogate, tells why she came to the process "And what is her supportive environment, and if someone looks interesting, you can make an appointment with her agency and get more information. It allows them to start their journey comfortably, quietly, from their home, and first of all understand what they are looking for."

Nadav: "Those who go into this process, certainly if these are straight parents who have probably already done a lot of treatments and did not expect to get to this place, experience a very great difficulty. They come with a lack of knowledge, insecurity, and a sense of lack of control, and we built this platform for Instead of groping your way in the dark, here you will get everything you need: process information, a list of clinics, surrogates, egg donors, agencies, legal and psychological consultants - all the factors you need under one system, which allows you to choose the What's good for you. "

Rooney: "The process of surrogacy is ethically sensitive because it involves the use of a woman's body and the" product "of the process, in the end, is an infant. Remedy from the state and does not need money, which is not its main motivation.

If someone does this just because she is financially distressed she will not go through the screening, which includes talking to a psychologist and a home visit, to make sure she has a supportive environment, suitable for growing a fetus, allowing her to eat well, that she can move around.

Therefore, the image that emerges in the mind of a survivor of someone from a disadvantaged background is not the situation, but amazing women who do it to help couples and individuals whose luck has not improved. "

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Naama and Nadav Raanan (Photo: Michael Guberko)

In fact, according to company statistics, only one in 100 women who want to be a surrogate will actually be one.

As for the attachment to the baby, which we talked about earlier, it turns out that in most processes it is not really the main challenge, but much more everyday things like the surrogate's arrival for tests, reporting to parents, taking vitamins, adhering to a healthy menu according to parents' requests. ).

Long before that, there is the challenge of finding a surrogate, which has only grown in the last two years following a global shortage created during the Corona period.

Nadav: "In Corona the clinics were closed, it was not possible to get a crowd, people could not fly from place to place, the industry stopped almost completely and there was a lot of uncertainty. "And that was a requirement of the agencies, some gained some weight and went out of the normal BMI range you need to be in order to be a surrogate, and others were not sure how the corona would affect the field and did not want to get into it. All of these things eventually led to shortages."

Due to the shortage, another system has been added to the site that allows women who want to be surrogates to register, fill out a questionnaire for initial screening and connect with agencies to continue the process.

"We're basically looking at all the edges of this process," says Roni. "Women who want to be surrogates are exposed to agencies through us. "When you work for one agency that has a specific database, you wait in line. Today we have a database of dozens of agencies, over 4,000 egg donors and 500 surrogates, and the database we created for the agencies already has 200 women who want to be surrogates and it is growing at a daily rate."

At the moment, there are very few Israeli surrogates, and many of the Israeli women who want to serve as surrogates do not know where to start because there is no clear series of information about the process.

But even among the few who already find an Israeli surrogate, not everyone will be able to carry out the process.

At the beginning of the year, it was determined for the first time that LGBT couples and single men would also be allowed to access surrogacy proceedings, but the law allowing the importation of fertilized eggs from abroad was not amended accordingly.

Most recently, a regulation was extended until November 1, 2002, which allows these intended parents to import fertilized eggs from abroad, but this is only a temporary solution and is also limited to a few clinics approved by the Ministry of Health.

Because of this, many intended parents choose not to go through the process in Israel.

But in the US, for example, this involves high costs that average $ 150,000 and even more. As part of Expecting's effort to alleviate the painful places in the process, using the site is free of charge, neither by the intended parents nor by the surrogate parents. In addition, the variety found on the site can help you search within the budget limits that suit you, and examine the preferences that affect the cost: Experienced surrogates will cost more than inexperienced surrogates, surrogacy for twins will charge an extra price, and if you want a surrogate Jewish, this will also cost you more, since there are very few of these on the market.

Demo video

Surrogate Search (Expecting)

Are there ways to save costs?

Rooney: "Along with the possibility of going through the process in the US, we also provide a solution to agencies in Georgia, Guatemala and Colombia, which we have carefully selected.

The process is still expensive, but less so than in the US. And of course each agency has different prices, going with a small agency that is at the beginning will cost less than an old and experienced agency. In addition, we also allow those who go through the process in the US "Some women are considered VIP donors: they are models, tall, educated, artists, but because they come from other countries - South Africa, Malaysia, Mexico and more - their cost is much cheaper."

Today, a year and a half after the launch of the site, the two are already celebrating pregnancies created through their mediation.

"Just as we never forget the first love, we remember the first pregnancy," says Nadav.

Last October, the company completed a $ 1 million fundraiser from Israeli and American investors, and on May 30, it will hold its first conference of its kind in Israel, intended for intended parents who are interested in receiving answers regarding the process from the best expertise in the field.

Admission is free with advance registration.

Nadav: "To the place where we can give the most effective, fast and good solution to everyone who is in this process. Once Expecting is at this point, and it will be, every parent in the world will be able to get the answer he needs from her."

Rooney: "Every drop of pain we have been able to take away from the intended parents, agencies, surrogates and donors is our success, and we collect those points. We have strong muscles in technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, marketing, we can use them to make a big difference and I believe we will help. "Many parents are on the way. I have three children, Nadav has three children, many others do not, and that is our mission - to get up every morning to have children."

Naama and Nadav Raanan (Photo: courtesy of those photographed)

For those who are interested

, there will be a free conference on 30.05 that will provide information to intended parents about their options regarding the surrogacy journey and egg donation.

The expertise at the conference will also refer to the new regulations issued by the Ministry of Health according to which proud same-sex couples and single fathers can at any time "import" fertilized eggs created in a clinic recognized by the Ministry of Health abroad until 2022.11.1.

The regulations in fact allow for the first time proud couples to complete the surrogacy process in Israel using fertilized fetuses abroad. This is significant news for the proud community in Israel.

After the conference, there will be a meeting between women in Israel Already 4 times in the past, thus helping to have an intimate and open conversation.

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