For many first-time surrogate mothers, understanding the qualifications is one of the first steps to beginning their surrogacy journey. Although surrogacy is becoming more and more common, it is important to understand and meet the necessary qualifications and, in knowing these qualifications early, you can better assess if becoming a surrogate mother is right for you.
As a leading Florida-based surrogacy agency, we at Creative Love Egg Donor & Surrogacy Agency work with many surrogate mothers, from helping understand the surrogacy requirements to providing support and guidance throughout the process. In today’s blog we are going to go over some of the main requirements needed in order to qualify for surrogacy.
Surrogacy Age Requirements
When considering becoming a surrogate mother it is important to understand the surrogacy age requirements. It is also important to know that just because you may be in child-bearing years, to become a surrogate mother there are often times more specific age ranges that are required.
On average, in order to become a surrogate mother with most surrogacy agencies you must be between the ages of 21 and 38 years old. Although it’s been proven that many women can carry children beyond 38 years old, and in some cases even into their early 50s, most surrogacy agencies will require 38 years old as the cut-off. This is due to the fact that women beyond 38 years of age may face a higher percentage of complications during pregnancy.
Previous Pregnancy Requirements for Surrogate Mothers
When going through the application to become a surrogate mother, you will be asked about your past pregnancies and the details of those pregnancies. To better help ensure that your pregnancy as a surrogate mother will be as complication-free as possible, it is important that you meet the following criteria:
- Have experienced a full-term pregnancy and delivery in the past to a child of your own and that you are currently raising that child.
- Have not had any deliveries prior to 35 weeks (unless they were tins or more)
- Have had only uncomplicated pregnancies and deliveries.
- Have not had more than 2 previous c-sections and have not had more than 4 total pregnancies.
In addition to the above pregnancy requirements for surrogate mothers you will also need to be able to provide OB/GYN records for the past 7 years of pregnancies and also receive a clearance letter approving you as a surrogate. This step is usually not required during your initial surrogate application though will be a required step during the qualification process to ensure you are well and ready to become a surrogate mother.
Surrogacy Health Requirements
It is important to know that the surrogate mother is healthy before beginning her pregnancy, both for herself and also for the baby. Due to this, there are a handful of health requirements needed in order to become a surrogacy mother, some of which include:
- You must be height-weight proportionate (BMI must be under 32)
- You must be a non-smoker (have stopped for at least 2 years) and also refrain from taking illegal drugs or be exposed to secondhand smoke.
- You must be able to refrain from consumption of alcohol throughout the medical process and the pregnancy.
- Be willing to be medically tested for both STDs and drugs.
- Not have any psychiatric illness or take medications for depression or anxiety.
Surrogacy Legal and Financial Requirements
Surrogacy laws differ from state-to-state, and it is important to know the specific requirements for the state you reside in (for example, Creative Love Egg Donor & Surrogacy Agency only works with surrogates who reside in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.)
With that said, below are some of the general legal and financial requirements needed to become a surrogate mother:
- Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
- Must reside in a surrogate friendly state (see the list of states mentioned above)
- Be willing to adhere to all contractual obligations throughout the surrogacy process.
- You must have astable residence and lifestyle. This can include not planning to move out of state from the time you submit your application through the end of your pregnancy.
- You are not receiving any kind of government assistance. (Includes food stamps, cash assistance, housing, or insurance benefits)
- Must be able to have yourself and your partner pass a criminal background check which includes sexual offender registry.
- Must have a valid drivers license and reliable transportation to travel to doctor appointments.
- Must be financially sound.
Additional Surrogacy Requirements
If you would like to see a full list of requirements to see if you qualify to become a surrogate mother we welcome you to visit our page on Surrogate Mother Requirements in Florida.
If you had read the requirements and would like to begin your journey as a surrogate mother, we welcome you to complete our surrogacy application. From there we will work with you to gather any remaining details and then begin by matching you with an ideal intended parent.
