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Utah Surrogacy Law

Although the law of Utah explicitly allows gestational surrogacy (in which the surrogate mother is not the biological contributor of the egg) agreements, it appears to exclude surrogacy agreements of same-sex couples.

Surrogacy agreements are heavily regulated in Utah.  One of the main constraints imposed on surrogacy agreements in Utah is that the intended parents to be married to each other.  Moreover, one of the intended parents must be genetically related to the child and the surrogacy agreements must be validated by a court.

The case of Jones v. Barlow[i], was one concerning two former domestic partners.   When they were together, the couple decided to have a child, and one of the individuals was artificially inseminated. Eventually, the couple separated, and the partner who was not genetically related to the child brought this lawsuit seeking visitation rights.  The Court held that the former partner had no standing to seek visitation because she was not genetically related to the child.   Though this case did not directly deal with the legitimacy of surrogacy agreements, it does show that the Utah courts are unlikely to grant equal parental rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals and couples.  In fact, Utah law prohibits joint adoption by lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender couples, and it also prohibits lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals from adopting the child of their same-sex partner.


[i] 154 P.3d 808 (Utah 2007)


Inside Utah Surrogacy Law