Considering surrogacy to build your family? California is the leading state with surrogacy-friendly laws offering strong legal protections for intended parents, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, or genetics. This IMA ART Fertility article and hyperlinks to California Legislative Information and case law explores California's established legal framework for gestational surrogacy.
California's strong legal protection
California's laws and case law provide strong legal protection for gestational surrogacy arrangements, including:
Uniform Parentage Act Establishes a clear legal framework that recognizes intended parents as the legal parents of the child, even if they are not genetically related.
Written surrogacy agreements Required before any medical procedures to protect the interests of all parties involved.
Judge-signed documents Required to put the intended parents' names on the birth certificate instead of the surrogate's
California Surrogacy First in Nation
California was one of the first states to enact a statute that makes surrogacy available to all, and it has more statutory law and published case law on surrogacy arrangements than any other state – and serves as the bedrock of IMA ART’s work helping individuals and couples build their families.
California Family Law Sections 7960–7962 (2013) outline the legislation that governs surrogacy in California. Supportive case law includes Johnson v. Calvert (1993) and Buzzanca v. Buzzanca (1998).
CA Assembly Bill 1217, among other things, would require the following:-
a surrogate mother and the intended parent or intended parents, as defined, to be represented by separate independent counsel of their choosing prior to executing an assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers, as defined.
an assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers to contain specified information.
the assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers to be executed by the parties and notarized or otherwise witnessed, as specified.
CA Assembly Bill 1217 would prohibit the parties to an assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers from undergoing an embryo transfer procedure or commencing injectable medication for assisted reproduction until the assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers has been fully executed pursuant to the requirements of these provisions. The bill would permit an action to establish the parent-child relationship to be filed before the child’s birth, and would specify where that action may be filed.
Réserve to speak with us for a confidential consultation about your bespoke surrogacy fertility solutions. Let us discuss your goals and answer your questions in a confidential setting. Together, we can embark on the path to building your beautiful family. Let us guide you towards parenthood with the utmost respect for your privacy and the highest standards of personalized care in Beverly Hills.
