Surrogacy laws by state

Find your state's surrogacy law guide

Surrogacy law is decided state by state, so where you live changes what's possible. Pick your state below for a plain-language guide to how it works there — reviewed by attorneys, updated for 2026.

The national picture

All 51 guides, color-coded. Click any state to open its guide — or search the full list below.

Surrogacy-friendly

19 states

Restricted

10 states

Gray area

19 states

Prohibited

3 states

Smaller states

Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey Rhode Island Vermont

Hover a state to see its status — click to open its guide.

Browse all 51 guides

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All 51 guides — 50 states and DC

A

Alabama has no dedicated surrogacy statute — the legislature reserved a section of its parentage law for surrogacy rules but never filled it in.

Alaska has no surrogacy statute and no court decisions on the subject.

Arizona law makes surrogate parentage contracts void, and it's even against the law to help arrange one (Ariz.

Compensated surrogacy is legal in Arkansas under a law originally written for artificial insemination, not a purpose-built surrogacy statute.

C

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in California.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Colorado under the Colorado Surrogacy Agreement Act.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Connecticut under the Connecticut Parentage Act, effective January 2022.

D

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Delaware under the Gestational and Genetic Carrier Agreement Act.

District of Columbia

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy has been legal in D.

F

Florida's gestational surrogacy statute lets intended parents pay the surrogate's reasonable living, legal, medical, and psychological expenses — a narrower framing than states that allow open-ended compensation.

G

Georgia has no surrogacy statute, even though the state has a large, active surrogacy industry.

H

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy became legal in Hawaii under a new law effective January 1, 2026, replacing the state's older, less specific rules.

I

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Idaho under the Gestational Agreements Act.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Illinois under the state's Gestational Surrogacy Act.

Indiana law makes surrogacy contracts void — not a crime, but a court won't enforce the agreement, including any payment terms.

Surrogacy-friendly

Iowa doesn't have a comprehensive surrogacy statute, but a specific carve-out in state law confirms paying a surrogate isn't illegal, and the Iowa Supreme Court has enforced gestational carrier contracts.

K

Kansas has no dedicated surrogacy statute.

Kentucky has no statute covering gestational surrogacy — its only surrogacy-related law addresses a different, older kind of arrangement.

L

Louisiana's surrogacy statute only covers married couples using their own egg and sperm, with all parties living in Louisiana for at least 6 months — and even then, the surrogate can only be reimbursed for expenses, not paid.

M

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Maine under the Maine Parentage Act.

Maryland has no dedicated surrogacy statute.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Massachusetts under the Massachusetts Parentage Act, effective January 1, 2025.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy became legal in Michigan on April 2, 2025, when the state's old criminal ban was repealed and replaced by the Michigan Family Protection Act.

Minnesota has no dedicated surrogacy statute, and the state's 2024 parentage law update actually excludes surrogacy from its scope.

Mississippi has no surrogacy statute and no court decisions on the subject — several attempts to pass a dedicated surrogacy law have died in the legislature.

Missouri has no dedicated surrogacy statute, so paying a gestational surrogate isn't explicitly authorized or banned — it's handled the same way courts treat any other private contract.

Montana has no dedicated surrogacy statute.

N

Nebraska law makes compensated surrogacy contracts void and unenforceable (Neb.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is explicitly legal in Nevada under the state's Gestational Agreements Act.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in New Hampshire under the state's Parentage Act.

New Jersey's surrogacy law only allows the surrogate to be paid back for defined reasonable expenses — medical, legal, and living costs — rather than an open fee for carrying the pregnancy.

New Mexico's law takes an unusual middle position: it says gestational agreements are neither authorized nor prohibited.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy has been legal in New York since the Child-Parent Security Act took effect in February 2021.

North Carolina has no surrogacy statute, and legal experts describe surrogacy contract enforceability as untested in the state.

North Dakota only protects surrogacy arrangements that use the intended parents' own egg and sperm — no donor eggs or sperm allowed under this law.

O

Ohio has no surrogacy statute, but the state's highest court has directly upheld a paid gestational surrogacy contract.

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Oklahoma under the state's Gestational Agreement Act, but if there are two intended parents, they must be married to each other — unmarried couples can't use the law together, though a single unmarried intended parent can.

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Oregon under a new law effective January 1, 2026.

P

Pennsylvania has no dedicated surrogacy statute.

R

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Rhode Island under the state's Uniform Parentage Act.

S

South Carolina has no dedicated surrogacy statute.

South Dakota has no surrogacy statute or court decisions addressing surrogate compensation.

T

Tennessee's only surrogacy-related law is a definition inside the adoption code — it doesn't create a process or protections.

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Texas, but the state's clear, court-validated path is only available to married intended parents.

U

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Utah, but only for married couples — both spouses must join the agreement, and a court must approve it before the embryo transfer.

V

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Vermont under the Vermont Parentage Act.

Virginia only allows a surrogate to be reimbursed for reasonable medical and pregnancy-related costs — paying her beyond that is void and unenforceable.

W

Surrogacy-friendly

Compensated gestational surrogacy is legal in Washington under the state's Uniform Parentage Act.

West Virginia's only surrogacy-related law is a narrow exception inside its criminal child-selling statute confirming that surrogate fees aren't illegal.

Wisconsin has no surrogacy statute — the whole legal framework comes from a single state supreme court case.

Wyoming allows a surrogate to be paid, but only for pregnancy-related expenses and costs — not an open fee — and both intended parents must have lived in Wyoming for at least a year before signing the agreement, which rules out most out-of-state families.