Being a Surrogate: Your Rights During Pregnancy

Surrogate Parenting Services (SPS) offers support for those who have decided to take the next steps toward being a surrogate. Before you embark on the process, it’s important to understand more about being a surrogate and your rights during pregnancy. In California, you will receive quality care and support from both an agency such as SPS and state laws that protect both you and the intended parents.

Your Options for Being a Surrogate

There are two types of surrogacy. Traditional surrogacy relies on natural fertilization. A traditional surrogate provides one of her own eggs for fertilization with the sperm of a donor or intended father; this process is called intrauterine insemination (IUI). Gestational surrogacy, on the other hand, uses a process called in vitro fertilization to create an embryo. An egg and a sperm, from donors or intended parents, are joined together through IVF and then carried by the gestational surrogate. In other words, a gestational surrogate is a carrier and has no biological relationship to the baby. SPS is a full-service surrogacy program, offering support for gestational surrogates and the respective intended parents.

Your Rights as a Gestational Surrogate and Rights for Intended Parents

Being a surrogate in California means that you have some of the best support there is. California is considered to be a surrogate-friendly state, which means there are protections in place to ensure that you and intended parents can navigate the surrogacy process with confidence.

Your Rights as Gestational Surrogate

In addition to customized, personal care that you’ll receive from SPS, there are rights you are entitled to an as surrogate mother.

You have the right to a contract with your surrogacy agency. In order to ensure that the contract meets all of your best interests and works in your favor, you will meet with your own attorney as provided by SPS to go over the details. With this contract, you will feel confident and secure in your responsibilities and expectations as a surrogate.

You have the right to compensation. Your compensation details will be laid out in your contract as well. Compensation can vary depending on first or second-time surrogates and other variables. Rest assured that you will understand the details of your own compensation fully before moving forward. See our main site for more information on surrogate compensation.

You have the right to choose your intended parents. At SPS, the matching process between surrogate and intended parents is personal and thorough. Both parties go through screenings, personality profiles, and meetings with a mentor such as Cristie Montgomery before meeting each other in person. After this arrangement, you still have the opportunity to think of the match and decide if it’s a good fit.

Rights for Intended Parents

As a surrogate-friendly state, California allows all intended parents to establish legal parental rights of their child even before the surrogate gives birth. Regardless of the sexual orientation or marital status of the intended parents, they are not required to go through adoption proceedings to be dubbed legal and natural parents. The same consideration that SPS gives to surrogate mothers in choosing their intended parents is of course given to the intended parents when searching for a surrogate. They have the right to consider any and all matches set up by the agency and ask necessary questions until the perfect match is found.

Knowing that being a surrogate comes with protections to ensure you have a positive experience can help you feel confident in moving forward. Both parties involved will have access to all necessary information and will receive 24/7 care and guidance from SPS. Your positive experience is heightened further by knowing that the future intended parents you work with are accepted fully by SPS and the state of California.

How to Navigate Being a Surrogate

Being a surrogate is one of the most generous gifts you can give. Every surrogate has the freedom and options available to navigate through the process and all legalities with ease. Sufficient communication is the best way to make sure that all parties are satisfied and on board with the process. If you choose SPS as your surrogacy agency, rest assured that experienced and trusted mentors will be there with you every step of the way to help you understand all that comes with being a surrogate and your rights during pregnancy. You can learn more about becoming a gestational carrier or apply directly through our website or contact us directly if you’re interested in growing your family via surrogacy.