Legality of Surrogacy in Connecticut
Connecticut has a specific law on the books allowing for gestational surrogacy arrangements. You and your surrogate must all be at least 21 years old, and your prospective surrogate must have given birth to at least one child already. Either you or your surrogate must reside in Connecticut.
The law requires certain medical and mental health screenings to take place (we do these anyway as part of our program at New England Surrogacy).
A written surrogacy contract is required. You and your surrogate must have separate attorneys for this agreement. Your signatures on the contract must be notarized or witnessed (Why not simply notarized? Because notarization can be difficult for intended parents living outside of the United States.)
Under Connecticut law, the surrogate must have a health insurance policy in place to cover the pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period (8 weeks). Additionally, you, as the intended parents, become legally responsible for any uncovered medical expenses of the surrogate. These requirements are consistent with New England Surrogacy’s standard practices.
The law allows for payment of both compensation to your surrogate and for payment of her surrogacy related expenses. Her compensation must be placed into an escrow account ahead of time (again, we do this routinely for all our surrogacy matches, even in states where it’s not legally required). Once the contract is in place and escrow is funded, your embryo transfer can be scheduled.
The court order part of the process usually takes place during the second trimester of pregnancy, when your attorney prepares paperwork to file with the court. The court will then issue a “Judgment of Parentage” which functions similarly to a Pre-Birth Order (AKA PBO). After the baby is born, the birth certificate is issued with only your names listed on it as the parents.