State Laws Regarding Surrogacy

Surrogacy is a method of reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant and deliver a child for a contracted party.  She may either be the child’s genetic mother, or she may, carry the pregnancy to delivery, as a gestational carrier, after having been implanted with an embryo.

Not all jurisdictions in the US consider surrogacy and surrogacy agreements legal.  In Arkansas, California, and Illinois, gestational surrogacy is recognized as legal, with or without compensation to the surrogate. Gestational surrogacy is where the surrogate becomes pregnant through embryo transfer, with a child of whom she is not the biological mother; because the child was conceived using egg donation, sperm donation or the pregnancy is the result of a donated embryo.  Massachusetts, Washington, and New Jersey recognize only uncompensated surrogacy agreements.  Uncompensated surrogacy agreements are surrogacy agreements where the transfer of the child takes place without the surrogate receiving a compensation for delivering the child to its intended parents.  Hospital fees, insurance and compensation of lost wages are exceptions to this.  Compensated surrogacy agreements are not valid in Nebraska and Michigan as well.

Nevada, North Dakota, New York, Utah, Virginia and Texas prohibit unmarried couples entering into surrogacy agreements.  Surrogacy is not allowed in the District of Columbia.  Other states in the U.S. do not have any clear law or case law regarding the recognition or prohibition of surrogacy.