GESTATIONAL SURROGACY

In Gestational Surrogacy arrangements, a commissioning couple, in consultation with their trusted fertility expert, chooses a surrogate ("carrier") to carry their own biological child created through the union of their egg and sperm. The couple has the option of using a donor egg or sperm provided for through a separate contractual relationship. The couple may not use the surrogate's egg.

A gestational carrier may receive reasonable living expenses through the course of her pregnancy and during her postpartum period. The amount of these expenses varies depending on the specific circumstances of each surrogate. The commissioning couple pays all reasonable legal, medical and psychological expenses.

Florida law requires that the relationship is controlled by a binding and enforceable contract. The law also establishes minimum standards for the parties in a gestational surrogacy arrangement. A gestational carrier must be at least 18 years of age and agree to submit to reasonable medical evaluations and treatment and comply with reasonable medical instructions concerning prenatal care. At the time she enters into the contract, the carrier must agree to relinquish any parental rights when the child is born and to cooperate with judicial proceedings to establish the commissioning couple's parentage. The commissioning couple must be over the age of 18 and legally married. A medical professional must certify that the commissioning mother cannot physically gestate a pregnancy to term or that a pregnancy will cause risk to the commissioning mother or fetus.

Additionally, the commissioning couple must agree that the gestational carrier is the sole source of consent to clinical intervention and management of the pregnancy and that they will assume full parental rights over the child regardless of any impairment.