What is Gestational Surrogacy and Should I Consider It?

Let Our Surrogacy Lawyer Walk You Through It

Many state and country laws do not specifically mention gestational surrogacy. Instead, the states and countries rely on other parenting and adoption laws. A qualified surrogacy attorney such as the gestational surrogacy lawyer at Steven H. Snyder & Associates is well-versed in the complications of gestational surrogacy and its many contracts and legal documents. Even in gestational surrogacy, like traditional surrogacy, the surrogate needs to terminate her parental rights and the intended mother needs to adopt the baby.

Risks

There are some risks involved with surrogacy. While all parties are in theory covered under contracts, the surrogate may change her mind and not terminate parental rights. The Courts could handle this in one of two ways:

• Review the matter under contract law
• Decide that such a contact is unenforceable based on the adoption laws or public policy

Gestational Surrogacy

Gestational surrogacy is the process of a “surrogate” mother bearing a child for other parents. Gestational surrogacy uses the egg and sperm from a husband and wife; the surrogate then has the embryo artificially inseminated into her. The surrogate is not the biological mother of the baby. The surrogate must terminate her parental rights to the child, and the potential mother must adopt the baby.

Agreements and Terms

Surrogacy agreements must be drafted to comply with existing state and country parenting and family planning laws. An experienced surrogacy attorney at Steven H. Snyder & Associates is current on the existing adoption statutes and drafts the surrogacy agreement. The surrogacy agreement covers:

• The biological parents’ rights
• STD testing for the surrogate and biological parents
• Medical evaluations
• Psychological counseling for the surrogate mother
• Determination of parental rights or contract for adoption
• Confidentiality agreement
• Compensation agreements for the surrogate mother
• Other terms and conditions as to how and when the agreement is terminated

If the surrogacy involves co-parenting, a co-parenting agreement will also be included in the surrogacy agreement, though it is not common to have a co-parenting relationship in a gestational surrogacy situation.

If you are considering egg donation, embryo donation, surrogacy, or becoming a surrogate, please contact the embryo donation attorneys and surrogacy lawyers at Steven H. Snyder & Associates today for help with your gestational surrogacy legal needs.