Tinder-style app lets hopeful partners swipe to find a surrogate mother by matching users ‘with the right people’
- Surrogacy app that uses AI to ‘seamlessly match families’ set for summer launch
- Rainbow asks for preferences including location, age, ethnicity and eye colour
- Founder Maddison Firth, 34, said app will halt a ‘confusing and complex process’
- Surrogacy in the UK is legal but not allowed to be paid for, other than expenses
A surrogacy app that uses artificial intelligence to ‘seamlessly match families with the right people’ is set to be launched this summer.
Rainbow asks users to set the criteria most important to them – such as location, age range, ethnicity and even eye and hair colour.
Similar to a dating app, they can then swipe through potential matches on the database which provides a short bio of the surrogate.
The app was founded by Maddison Firth, 34, who having suffered her own fertility troubles aimed to provide a simpler way to go about the ‘confusing, emotionally draining and complex process’.
The app will introduce artificial intelligence to a process than can be ‘complex and confusing’
Surrogacy is legal in the UK but it is not allowed to be paid for, so only reasonable expenses – those incurred as a result of the pregnancy like medical bills and compensation for time off work – are permitted and any agreements cannot be enforced by the law.
The surrogate is the infant’s legal parent at birth and guardianship is transferred by parental order or adoption after the child is born. The platform – which is open for people to register on already and is set to launch officially next month – will also function as a social media platform for those going through the process, allowing families and surrogates to chat.
Surrogates can also register on the app along with healthcare providers and advertisers. Miss Firth, who began working on the app in 2018, said the app ‘marks a change in the surrogacy process’, offering a more seamless and ultimately ‘fulfilling and happy experience’.
The number of UK women volunteering as surrogates is small, which drives many couples abroad. Ukraine is one of the only places in the world where it is legal for families to pay surrogates, costing couples around £40,000.
Countries such as Cambodia, India, Nepal and Thailand all banned it in recent years owing to the abusive treatment of women. But with no such restrictions in the UK, dozens of highly organised Ukrainian companies are free to target the British market.
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