Pennsylvania Surrogacy Process

Key Points:

• The Pennsylvania surrogacy process has 6 key steps to follow on your path to success.
• Choosing the right professional can make or break your experience.
• You can get connected to a professional today to learn more about the Pennsylvania surrogacy process or get started.

The guide below will walk you through the Pennsylvania surrogacy process so that whether you’re an intended parent or a potential surrogate, you can start pursuing your PA surrogacy dreams safely, legally, ethically and with less stress.

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Surrogacy has the amazing ability to bring people together to help create families. The information below can help guide you in your own Pennsylvania surrogacy journey so that you can give someone the gift of parenthood or have the family you’ve dreamed of:

The Pennsylvania Surrogacy Process

There are no laws for surrogacy in Pennsylvania. That doesn’t mean that you can’t pursue surrogacy as a family-building option as a Pennsylvania resident; however, you should always educate yourself about the unique ways that living in Pennsylvania can affect your surrogacy process as an intended parent or surrogate.

Every surrogacy journey is unique, depending on your individual circumstances, but, in general, here are the six steps of surrogacy in PA:

Step 1: Decide if You’re Ready to Commit to Surrogacy

Both parties should be prepared to commit to the Pennsylvania surrogacy process for about a year (sometimes longer for intended parents), and it’ll require your full dedication during that time. Choosing to pursue surrogacy in Pennsylvania, either as a surrogate or as a hopeful parent, can affect you and your family in several ways. It’s important to educate yourself about this legal, physical and emotional process before committing to surrogacy in Pennsylvania.

Surrogates will need to reflect on how surrogacy may affect their time, career, emotions, health and family. Intended parents should compare all the available family-building options to PA surrogacy to see how the various options would differently affect them from a mental, emotional and financial standpoint.

Always be aware of and honest about your motivations for pursuing surrogacy in Pennsylvania. It’s not an easy process, nor is it the right option for everyone. Be certain that you’re pursuing it for the right reasons before making such a major commitment.

Step 2:  Choose Which Type of Surrogacy

If you’re ready to commit to the process of surrogacy in Pennsylvania, you’ll next need to learn about the two different types of surrogacy you could choose from:

• Traditional surrogacy: a less common method of surrogacy in PA, a traditional surrogate is the biological mother of the child because she uses her own egg, becoming pregnant through intrauterine insemination (IUI) using sperm from a donor or an intended father. Traditional surrogacy is rare today due to the added legal and emotional risks associated with it. Traditional surrogacy is treated as an adoption under Pennsylvania law, so pre-birth orders are not permitted, and surrogates can’t be compensated for their time. This also requires extra legal steps after the baby is born to transfer parental rights to the intended parents. Most surrogacy professionals today will not complete traditional surrogacies, so if you choose this path, you will likely not have the help of a surrogacy agency or program.
• Gestational surrogacy: the most common type of Pennsylvania surrogacy, gestational carriers are not biologically related to the child. Instead, eggs and sperm from donors or intended parents are used to create an embryo through in vitro fertilization (IVF), which is then transferred to the gestational surrogate to carry.

Step 3: Match with Your PA Surrogacy Partner

Pennsylvania surrogates and intended parents aren’t limited to matching with surrogacy partners in the same state. You can match with a surrogate or intended parents anywhere in the United States. Long-distance surrogacy relationships are common and thrive regardless of distance. There are several different ways to find and match with a surrogacy partner:

• If you already know who you’d like to work with to achieve your surrogacy dream, simply contact a surrogacy professional to complete the required screening and start creating your surrogacy contracts before taking any medical steps. This is necessary for everyone’s legal protection. A verbal surrogacy agreement isn’t legally binding.
• If you don’t have someone in mind yet, a surrogacy agency or program can help you find and match with someone who is already pre-screened and ready to begin. They’ll show you profiles of possible matches who have surrogacy goals that align with your own.
• If you’re pursuing surrogacy in Pennsylvania independently and are searching for a match on your own without a professional, you should always take care. You’ll need to carefully vet any matches that you find online or through your personal network, as you could be put at risk for fraud.

Step 4: Complete the Legal Steps of Surrogacy in Pennsylvania

When you’ve found the right match for your PA surrogacy partner, you’ll need to complete the legal steps together before you can move on to the medical stage.

There are no state-specific laws governing surrogacy in Pennsylvania, but you’ll still need individual legal representation to ensure that your Pennsylvania surrogacy process is completed legally and ethically according to U.S. laws. Individual legal counsel is important for maintaining equal and fair representation when creating surrogacy contracts, which address everything from surrogate compensation to the legal parental rights of the intended parents.

The surrogacy contract must be finalized before proceeding to the medical process of surrogacy in Pennsylvania.

Step 5: Complete the Medical Steps of Surrogacy in PA

Surrogates in Pennsylvania must meet a number of health requirements and complete the required screening processes established by their surrogacy professional. This is done to ensure that they’re healthy enough to meet the physically demanding process of surrogacy in PA.

Gestational surrogates in PA will take fertility medications and hormone injections leading up to the embryo transfer, which usually occurs at the intended parents’ preferred fertility clinic. The embryos are created in a lab through in vitro fertilization with the eggs and sperm from donors or intended parents and are transferred to the uterus of the gestational surrogate. It may take several cycles of transfers for a healthy pregnancy to take place. When pregnancy has been confirmed by a doctor, PA surrogates can begin receiving base compensation and a monthly allowance, which is permitted in Pennsylvania.

From there on out, surrogates can see their regular OBGYN for regular prenatal checkups as the pregnancy progresses. Intended parents and surrogates can stay in contact to whatever extent the parties prefer as the due date approaches.

Step 6: The Baby’s Arrival

Because long-distance surrogacy matches are common, intended parents are usually prepared to travel to support their surrogate as soon as she goes into labor. A surrogacy birth is a special experience, and it’s one that can be shared together.

Interested in becoming parents via surrogacy in Pennsylvania? Want to help someone else become a parent by becoming a surrogate mother in Pennsylvania? Contact a Pennsylvania surrogacy professional to receive more information now.