Texas Surrogacy Process

Key Points:

• We break down the Texas surrogacy process in six steps.
• Understand the process surrogates and intended parents will go through on their own surrogacy journey.
• Get started on the Texas surrogacy process by contacting a surrogacy agency today.

The surrogacy process can vary from state to state, which sometimes makes it difficult to find the information you need for your specific circumstances. If you have specific questions about the surrogacy process, you can contact a surrogacy specialist to get direct answers.

Speak with a specialist today!

The following guide for surrogacy in Texas can help both intended parents and potential surrogates learn more about the surrogacy process in Texas, and the steps you’ll take in your journey:

The Texas Surrogacy Process

Every surrogacy journey is different. Texas surrogacy laws and your individual circumstances will guide your overall surrogacy process in Texas, but you’ll generally go through the following six stages of surrogacy:

Step 1: Is TX Surrogacy Right for You?

First, you should take some time to familiarize yourself with the legal, emotional and physical processes of surrogacy in Texas, so you can be sure whether or not this is the right decision for you.

If you’re considering becoming a surrogate, consider how this decision would affect you, your health, your emotional state, your career and your family. If you’re an intended parent, consider all of your family-building options so that you can know whether or not the Texas surrogacy process is the right path for you.

Deciding to pursue surrogacy in Texas is of course a major undertaking, whether you’re an intended parent or a surrogate. You should always educate yourself fully about all potential drawbacks and benefits before making your decision.

Step 2: Which Type of Surrogacy and Surrogacy Professional Should You Choose?

If you’re ready to pursue surrogacy in Texas, you’ll next want to understand the two types of surrogacy:

• Traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate uses her own egg and is therefore the biological mother of the child she carries, is not legally accepted in the state of Texas due to the legal and emotional risks associated with this method of surrogacy.
• Gestational surrogacy, however, where the surrogate is not biologically related to the child, is legally recognized in Chapter 160 of the Texas Family Code, and is a common way for people to create families together. In gestational surrogacy, an embryo is created through IVF using an egg and sperm from donors or intended parents, and will be transferred to the surrogate.

Intended parents and surrogates are both generally encouraged to work with an experienced Texas surrogacy professional to help complete their TX surrogacy process. For this, there are two primary types of professionals:

• A surrogacy agency screens and matches intended parents and surrogates, offers counseling, case management, referrals to legal representation and provides other relevant services.
• A surrogacy attorney completes the legal process of surrogacy in TX, and can often suggest ways to look for intended parents or surrogates.

Step 3: Find Your Match

You don’t have to exclusively find surrogates or intended parents in Texas. You can match with people anywhere in the U.S.

Some people begin their surrogacy journey already knowing who they wish to partner with, so they don’t have to search for a match. But if you don’t have a match yet, consulting a matching professional like a surrogacy agency can help. Intended parents will create a profile that potential surrogates can view, and surrogates and intended parents are recommended for matches based on similar surrogacy goals. Those goals may include wanting the same amount of communication throughout the pregnancy, or perhaps both parties desiring a more informal relationship.

If you choose to search for a Texas surrogacy match without a surrogacy agency via personal connections, word of mouth or networking, you’ll be responsible for screening potential matches.

Step 4: Establish Your Texas Surrogacy Contract

After a surrogate and intended parent have found one another for a match, they’ll next need to create a legal contract with the aid of separate legal representation.

Your lawyers will review the contract draft and discuss the legal stages of the Texas surrogacy process with you. This includes covering potential events that could happen in the surrogacy process and agreeing to a shared solution. These contracts act as a legal guide that both parties will refer to and will prevent any potential miscommunications.

When both the intended parent and the surrogate have agreed to the final draft of the surrogacy contract, the medical processes can begin. In Texas, when a gestational carrier agrees to a surrogacy contract, she acknowledges that she is neither the biological nor legal parent of the child she gives birth to as a result of the surrogacy process, and that she therefore has no parental rights over that child. This means that there’s generally no need to complete any pre-birth orders or post-birth adoptions in order to establish the intended parents as the legal parents of a child born via surrogacy in TX.

Step 5: Begin the Medical Process

The Texas gestational surrogacy process involves the creation of embryos in a fertility clinic using eggs and sperm from donors or intended parents. Those embryos will be transferred to the surrogate’s uterus. After the confirmation of a healthy pregnancy, surrogates in Texas can start receiving their base compensation and monthly allowance, as surrogate compensation in Texas is legal.

From here, the TX surrogate pregnancy will just involve routine prenatal checkups, just like any pregnancy. Throughout the pregnancy, surrogates and intended parents can communicate with one another as much or as little as they both feel comfortable with. Some surrogates and intended parents enjoy staying in touch and updating each other more frequently, while others prefer to maintain more privacy. This is something that you can both talk about when drafting your Texas surrogacy contract.

Step 6: Welcome the Baby

Many surrogacy matches occur across state lines, and the relationship between the surrogate and intended parents still thrives. Regardless of where both parties live, intended parents usually travel to the surrogate’s hospital to join her in welcoming their baby. Texas surrogacy is an experience that’s best shared together!

Even as the baby grows into a child, long after surrogates and intended parents have gone their separate ways, many intended parents and surrogates still stay in touch. Joining together to make a family through surrogacy in Texas creates a unique bond. Surrogacy professionals can often facilitate post-surrogacy communications and provide you with support, if needed.

Creating a family through the process of surrogacy in Texas is an amazing journey for surrogates and intended parents alike. Contact a surrogacy professional now to learn how to begin your surrogacy process.