What makes a state LGBTQ-friendly for surrogacy?
An LGBTQ-friendly surrogacy state is one whose statute or settled case law grants pre-birth parentage to intended parents regardless of marital status, sexual orientation or genetic link, and where a compensated gestational surrogacy agreement is enforceable. If a state meets that test, two dads, two moms and single parents reach legal parentage the same way any other intended parents do.
Four questions decide it:
- Is compensated gestational surrogacy enforceable? If the agreement cannot be enforced, nobody can rely on it: not you, and not the surrogate.
- Are pre-birth parentage orders available? A pre-birth order names you as the parents before delivery, so the birth certificate is right from day one.
- Are they available to every family? Some states limit orders by marital status, or require a genetic link to at least one parent.
- Is the agency licensed where required? Some states license surrogacy agencies.
The state that matters most is the one where your surrogate delivers. That is why Private Label Surrogacy places surrogates only in surrogacy-friendly US states, and why counsel reviews the surrogate's state before you match.
What about the state where your clinic is? It matters less than most parents expect. Your clinic creates the embryos and performs the transfer. The surrogate travels to it for her medical screening and the transfer, and does her monitoring bloodwork and ultrasounds at a clinic near her home. The clinic's state does not decide parentage; the delivery state does. So a two-dad couple can use a clinic in one state and a surrogate in another, as long as the surrogate's state is surrogacy-friendly.
This page is written by Nancy Block, RN, founder of PLS. It is not legal advice.
Which states grant pre-birth orders to same-sex couples?
Illinois does. The Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005) makes compensated gestational surrogacy agreements enforceable and provides pre-birth parentage. The Equality for Every Family Act, signed in December 2025, removed the requirement that at least one intended parent be genetically related to the child, and it requires independent counsel for both sides. Statute details are reviewed by counsel.
Michigan legalized compensated surrogacy in April 2025. New York licenses surrogacy agencies; PLS is applying for its license.
The matrix below is built with counsel and dated. PLS does not publish a state classification until counsel has reviewed it.
| State | Pre-birth order: same-sex married | Pre-birth order: unmarried | Pre-birth order: single | Genetic link required | Compensated surrogacy enforceable | Agency licensing | Reviewed by counsel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, since December 2025 | Yes, since 2005 | [confirm with counsel] | [date] |
| Michigan | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | Yes, since April 2025 | [confirm with counsel] | [date] |
| New York | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | [confirm with counsel] | Yes; PLS license application pending | [date] |
| Other states where PLS recruits | [to be added with counsel] | [to be added with counsel] | [to be added with counsel] | [to be added with counsel] | [to be added with counsel] | [to be added with counsel] | [date] |
For the state-by-state legal summary PLS maintains, see surrogacy laws by state. For Illinois in detail, see Illinois surrogacy law.
Which states should gay couples avoid for the surrogate's delivery?
Surrogacy for gay couples is not legal on equal terms in every US state. A few states restrict compensated surrogacy, or limit who can obtain a pre-birth order. The list of restrictive states changes as legislatures act; PLS publishes it only after counsel review.
What PLS does about it:
- Surrogates are recruited only in surrogacy-friendly states. You are not introduced to a surrogate in a state where your family could not obtain parentage.
- Counsel reviews the surrogate's state before you match, including where she is likely to deliver.
- Delivery near a state line is planned for. An Illinois surrogate who lives near Wisconsin or Indiana might deliver across the line. Her attorney and yours plan the filing for the state where the birth is likely to happen.
The risk to avoid is a mismatch between where the agreement was written and where the baby is born. If a surrogate delivers in a state that does not recognize your family the way her home state does, the paperwork that was ready may not apply. That is planned for in the agreement, not discovered in the delivery room.
What makes a fertility clinic LGBTQ-friendly?
An LGBTQ-friendly fertility clinic does more than accept same-sex patients. It has the experience and systems to treat them well. Look for:
- A published policy on treating same-sex couples and single patients.
- Experience with two-dad couples, including split sperm cycles, where one egg donor's eggs are divided between both fathers.
- SART membership. Membership in the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology is a baseline, not a distinction.
- Intake forms that fit your family. Forms written for two fathers, two mothers or a single parent, not adapted from forms for a mother and father.
- Experience coordinating with agencies and egg donor programs in other states, since your donor, your surrogate and your clinic may be in three different places.
None of this is a guarantee of good care, but each is a sign the clinic has done this before.
What questions should you ask a clinic?
Ask these at your first consultation, and ask for the answers in writing where you can:
- How many same-sex couples did you treat last year?
- Do you run split sperm cycles, and how do you price them?
- Do your intake forms and consent documents fit our family as written?
- Are you a SART member?
- Will you transfer one embryo from each father in one transfer, or only single embryo transfers?
- How do you work with an outside surrogacy agency and an outside egg donor program?
- How quickly do you send records to the surrogate's monitoring clinic?
- Who is our point of contact, and how fast do they reply?
If the answers are vague, ask again. A clinic that treats two-dad couples regularly can answer most of these in a sentence.
Which clinics does PLS partner with?
PLS works with 14 partner fertility centers. They include Kindbody, Shady Grove Fertility, Fertility Centers of Illinois and Oregon Reproductive Medicine. Confirm which of the 14 partner clinics agree to be named before the full list is published.
A partner clinic is one where PLS already has a working relationship: known contacts, established records exchange and experience with PLS's screening. That usually makes scheduling faster.
You do not have to use a partner clinic. You may use any clinic you choose. PLS coordinates with it the same way. Whichever clinic you use, Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, PLS's Executive Director, reads your surrogate's prenatal and delivery records and sends a physician medical summary to that clinic.
How the coordination works in practice: once you are matched, PLS sends your clinic Dr. Silverberg's physician medical summary and the surrogate's screening results. Your clinic completes her medical screening, the last step before she is cleared. PLS arranges her travel to your clinic for screening and for the transfer, and sets up her monitoring at a clinic near her home. Her case manager, Natalie Gaudio-Fricano or Jenni Symons, keeps both clinics and both families on the same calendar.
For clinics near PLS's Northbrook office, see fertility clinics in Illinois.
Does the parents' home state matter if the surrogate delivers elsewhere?
For the parentage order, mostly no. The surrogate's state of delivery governs the parentage order. Two dads living in a restrictive state can match with an Illinois surrogate who delivers in Illinois, and obtain parentage under Illinois law. Counsel confirms this for your family before you match.
Your home state still matters after you bring the baby home. Every state must honor a court order from another state, but not every agency or office treats a birth certificate alone the same way. That is why many attorneys recommend that gay couples also complete a confirmatory adoption or judgment for the non-genetic father. See legal parentage for two dads.
You do not have to live in Illinois to work with PLS. Families across the US and abroad do.
Sources
- Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005), Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.
- Equality for Every Family Act, signed December 2025, Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.
- SART, Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, clinic membership.