Elusive Mommyhood: An Investigative Reporter's Personal Journey into IVF and Surrogacy
By Ginanne Brownell
Published by Mission Point Press
ISBN-10: 1965278116, ISBN-13: 978-1965278116
Buy this book from Amazon UK

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It starts with a ham and cheese panini. Ginanne Brownell opens her book in a hospital cafeteria, eating a sandwich, waiting for her children to be born. It's a mundane moment in an otherwise very extraordinary story. So begins this hybrid memoir and investigative exploration of the modern fertility world.

Within 400 pages, Brownell takes us through her personal journey with surrogacy, weaving in extensive research on reproductive technology and international laws. Brownell was raised in Michigan but is now based in London. As a journalist who has reported all over the world on topics ranging from arts and culture to human rights, Brownell brings both her professional insight and lived experience to her story.

'Elusive Mommyhood: An investigative reporter's personal journey into IVF and surrogacy' is not just a manual to surrogacy, but a story of Brownell – her experience with infertility and how she changed the law.

The book begins exactly how I expected it would end – with the birth of Brownell's children. After all, this is her journey with IVF and surrogacy, which began a long time before. This is an early signal of the non-linear storytelling that takes place throughout the book. The central thread is her journey: from confronting infertility and navigating IVF, to meeting her surrogate, becoming a mother, and ultimately helping change the law in her home state. But the narrative frequently detours, and Brownell blends in memories and funny anecdotes that take place before and after the main action.

The early chapters focus on infertility, something that Brownell describes as truly uncontrollable. She recalls how she came to the realisation that she would have to plan and pursue having a family, just as she had done for her career. IVF treatment gave her hope, but it was ultimately unsuccessful, and she was told she had unexplained infertility. Brownell recalls seeing a description of infertility as an 'unusually lonely form of grief'. 'That is so heartbreakingly true', she says, 'to miss something that hadn't existed.'

After this, Brownell decided to pursue surrogacy. She describes the immediate negativity she came up against: friends wondered why she wouldn't adopt instead, and surrogacy was illegal in her home state of Michigan. She reflects on the bad public image surrounding surrogacy, shaped by a stereotyped media portrayal and scandals, including the Baby M case that invalidated surrogacy contracts in the USA. Nonetheless, Brownell felt it was the right journey for her and started looking for surrogates through an agency. She ended up matching with Julie, a married woman who also happened to be from Michigan.

At this point, the book becomes deeply personal, and you feel as if you are inside Brownell's head. Brownell includes direct snippets from emails between her and Julie and shares her inner monologue of the overwhelming feelings she experienced during this time. She writes candidly about a difficult period in her marriage and how that affected their surrogacy journey. It's a deeply personal reflection that, while outside the legal or medical frame behind surrogacy, adds so much to the book. This intimacy adds life into her story; it grounds a complex and often clinical subject in real human experience – something frequently forgotten in discussions about fertility.

One especially emotional moment comes when Brownell tells us about a miscommunication with her IVF clinic. She discovered that one of her frozen embryos failed to develop, despite being told it had. She shares her upset, describing how, yet again, she felt completely out of control. However, this time it wasn't because of her own infertility, but rather she felt at the whim of doctors. This is a rare and important perspective, a reminder that behind all the medical steps are people for whom the outcome means everything.

Brownell also examines surrogacy globally, highlighting how different it is in each country. While research shows that surrogates in the USA tend to be motivated by factors other than financial need, economic need plays a bigger role in the Philippines and India. She explores issues like anonymous versus open egg donation, cultural taboos, and the absence of cohesive international regulation. Cross-border surrogacy is on the rise, she argues, but the legal frameworks haven't caught up – creating ethical grey zones and leaving families vulnerable.

While her twins were born in the USA and easily acquired American citizenship, bringing them home to London was more difficult. The surrogacy laws in the UK are more antiquated (see BioNews 1101). Brownell had to apply for a parental order and attend court to become the legal parent of her children in the eyes of UK law. She describes her frustration with this process, saying being infertile is hard enough, having to prove her children are hers was even worse. The children's birth certificates disclosed their surrogacy origins without consent – a policy she criticises as unnecessarily invasive and dehumanising.

Brownell's story ends with her journey to legalising surrogacy in her home state, Michigan. Working with the Michigan Fertility Alliance, Brownell played a role in helping pass the Michigan Family Protection Act (see BioNews 1232). This act decriminalised surrogacy and provided clear paths for parentage of children born through surrogacy. It is a hopeful and concrete ending to a story filled with emotional and legal uncertainty.

At times, I found this book hard to follow. While the non-linear storytelling is dynamic and refreshing, constantly swapping from past and future moments, between inner thoughts and investigative research, was slightly disorienting. It prevented me from fully settling into the story when the tone and flow kept swapping. This hybrid format is rich and ambitious, but at times it sacrifices clarity for range. Nonetheless, the breadth of information and emotional depth make it a very worthwhile read. It provides insights into all areas anyone interested in surrogacy would want to know.

But what makes this book important and truly moving is the author herself. This book is not as much a how-to guide to the world of surrogacy as it is a story of Brownell and her journey with infertility. Towards the end of the book, she describes how, despite all the joy her children brought her, immediately after their birth, she really struggled with her identity. Becoming a mother after so long as an infertile woman was hard to get her head around. The trauma and grief of infertility doesn't simply disappear, she explains. It's a story the fertility world needs – not just to understand the science or the law, but to see the people at the heart of it.

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Buy Elusive Mommyhood: An Investigative Reporter's Personal Journey into IVF and Surrogacy from Amazon UK.