“Will you carry my baby?” is not an uncommon phrase in the life of Attorney Ellen Trachman, a specialist in Assisted Reproductive Technology law. As a reproductive lawyer, estate planner, and the co-founder of Colorado Surrogacy, the only local surrogacy group connecting Colorado intended parents with Colorado gestational carriers, Trachman is a busy woman -- and a mom of four herself.
Trachman began her law career working on hedge funds, but once she discovered the complex legal issues around reproductive rights and surrogacy, she knew she’d found her calling. After a period of hardship in her own life, she took the plunge, left corporate law, and never looked back.
Since then, Trachman has become an expert in the ins and outs of reproductive and surrogacy law, including legal support for LGBTQ parents who are using a surrogate to start their family. She talks with mom-to-be and host Pamela Maas about the costs and timeline of surrogacy, the impact of COVID-19 on surrogates in Colorado and around the world, and financial support options for low and middle-income families looking at surrogacy as an option.
On top of her ongoing success as a legal advisor and surrogacy group co-founder, Trachman was part of a coalition that recently passed a bill that requires Colorado insurance companies to cover all fertility treatment costs, including up to three rounds of IVF, starting in 2022.
Trachman is an advocate for families of all kinds, but she knows there’s still work to be done around access, cost, and legal support, especially for non-traditional families. She talks frankly with Pam Maas about what it means to be an advocate for surrogates and parents today, and how she does it all as a mom, lawyer, podcast host, and surrogacy group CEO.
Quotes:
- “We believe there are so many ways to form a loving family. We work with single parents, male, female, gender non-identifying. There’s a lot of ways to be a good parent.” 17:51-18:04
- “I get to go to these match meetings sometimes where it’s like a blind date introducing someone: ‘Will you carry my baby?’” 5:34-5:42