US surrogacy: An interview with Zsuzsa Berend

This paper is a partial transcription of a long conversation between the sociologist Zsuzsa Berend (University of California, Los Angeles) and the anthropologist Corinna Sabrina Guerzoni (Western Fertility Institute, Los Angeles) on US surrogacy. It is the outcome of an interview occurred on 6th October 2017 in Los Angeles, transcribed and revised by both the authors. The text analyzes some fundamental concepts that Berend explored in her book The Online World of Surrogacy (2016) and offers some food for thought to read the US commercial surrogacy with other lenses. Berend’s study offers an in-depth analysis of compensated surrogacy in the US and unique perspective for a better understanding of the experiences and points of view of the women directly involved in this assisted reproductive practice.