Gestational Surrogacy

Building your family through the use of a Gestational Surrogate and/or Egg or Sperm Donor is quite complicated, though possible for committed individuals.

Once potential candidates have been identified, the process of ensuring that they qualify medically and psychologically can be time-consuming and expensive. You must have lawyers and medical professionals to assist you in this process.

The serious nature of the legal rights in a Gestational Surrogacy agreement or Egg Donor or Sperm Donor agreement necessitates the participation of trained and licensed professionals. You should only proceed after you have a drafted a reasonably detailed agreement, which delineates the rights and responsibilities of the intended parents and the Surrogate and clearly stipulates which State laws will apply. It is only through this process that the parties subject to the contract can have confidence that a child born through the surrogacy/egg/sperm donation program will reduce any potential legal conflict. This then allows them to enjoy the pregnancy and hopefully develop a close supportive relationship with the Surrogate.

In Maryland, there are no statutes governing surrogacy. There is an evolving body of legal precedent that recognizes the intended parents as the birth parents, and the courts follow this precedent to order the birth certificate amended to reflect this fact. The Maryland courts have held that so long as the surrogacy has a sufficient "nexus" to Maryland, Maryland courts have jurisdiction and will apply Maryland case law even if the prospective parents reside in another state. However, the use of a Traditional Surrogate is questionable from a legal perspective in Maryland. In 2000, the Maryland Attorney General issued an opinion suggesting that traditional surrogacy violates the baby selling laws.

Read on to learn details of the surrogacy process

< Back