Is surrogacy legal in Georgia?
Reviewed by counsel [name], [date]. All statements about Georgia law on this page are pending review by Georgia counsel. No statute numbers or case names are cited until counsel approves the page.
Yes. Gestational surrogacy is legal and practiced in Georgia, and the surrogate can be compensated. Georgia has no surrogacy statute. Courts in many Georgia counties grant pre-birth parentage orders, and they do so most reliably when the intended parents are married or at least one of them is genetically related to the baby.
Two facts about your family therefore matter more in Georgia than in a statute state: whether you are married, and whether each parent has a genetic link to the baby. Where neither condition holds for a parent, some Georgia judges require a post-birth order or an adoption, which is why Georgia attorneys choose the county they file in deliberately.
Jan Telman Berman, Global Surrogacy Coordinator at Private Label Surrogacy, wrote this page. She has more than 18 years in the field and manages national and international cycles. The page explains how a Georgia journey runs with PLS. It is not legal advice; your Georgia reproductive attorney gives you that, and the surrogate has her own attorney.
| Georgia at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Legal basis | No surrogacy statute; court practice and the parties' contract |
| Status | Legal by practice; no statute; pre-birth orders in many counties |
| Parentage method | Pre-birth order in many counties; post-birth or adoption for some non-genetic parents |
| Who can be an intended parent | Married, unmarried, single and same-sex parents in practice; pre-birth orders most reliable for married or genetic parents |
| Surrogate requirements | None set by statute; PLS requires age 21 to 43, BMI under 33, a prior healthy full-term birth and full PLS screening |
| Compensation permitted | Yes |
| PLS recruits here | Yes, particularly in metro Atlanta |
What law governs surrogacy in Georgia?
No Georgia statute governs gestational surrogacy. Surrogacy in Georgia is legal by practice: the parties sign a gestational carrier agreement, and a Georgia court issues a parentage order based on the facts of the family.
Because nothing in state law fills the gaps, the agreement has to. A Georgia agreement spells out compensation, who makes which medical decisions, insurance, travel, and the plan for the hospital. The intended parents' attorney and the surrogate's attorney each review it for their own client. PLS employs neither of them.
Venue is the other half of Georgia practice. Judges in different counties have handled surrogacy petitions differently, so your attorney picks where to file with your family's facts in mind. When you interview Georgia attorneys, ask which counties they file in and what result they expect for a family like yours.
PLS arranges gestational surrogacy only. The surrogate carries an embryo created by IVF and has no genetic link to the baby.
How is parentage established in Georgia: pre-birth or post-birth?
For many families, before the birth. Courts in many Georgia counties grant pre-birth parentage orders. The order is most reliable when the intended parents are married or at least one parent is genetically related to the baby.
For a parent with no genetic link, some judges require a post-birth order or an adoption instead. That is a timing difference, not a refusal, but it changes the hospital plan and adds legal work.
A simple way to see where your family sits:
| Your family | Likely Georgia route |
|---|---|
| Married, at least one genetic parent | Pre-birth order in many counties |
| Unmarried, at least one genetic parent | Pre-birth order in many counties; venue matters |
| A parent with no genetic link | Post-birth order or adoption for that parent in some counties |
With a pre-birth order, the hospital has the paperwork before labor begins. With a post-birth route, your attorney sets up the hospital plan ahead of time so everyone knows who makes decisions for the baby until the order is entered. The pre-birth vs post-birth parentage order page walks through both.
Who can be an intended parent in Georgia?
Georgia has no statute that restricts who can be an intended parent. In practice, married couples, unmarried couples, single parents and same-sex couples all work with Georgia surrogates. The parentage route may differ.
Where it differs:
- Married couples have the most reliable path to a pre-birth order, especially with a genetic link.
- Single parents using their own eggs or sperm have a genetic link, which supports a pre-birth order in many counties; with donors on both sides, a post-birth step may follow.
- Same-sex couples often have one genetic parent; the other may need a post-birth order or adoption in some counties.
A Georgia attorney confirms your route before you match. International intended parents should also ask about the federal executive order of August 6, 2026 on citizenship for children born through compensated surrogacy to two non-citizen parents, which is under litigation. Status as of [date], reviewed by counsel [name].
PLS works with every kind of family on the same terms. If your Georgia route includes a post-birth step you would rather avoid, ask about a surrogate in another state. In Illinois, PLS's home state, the Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005) provides for pre-birth parentage, and the Equality for Every Family Act, signed December 2025, removes the genetic-link requirement. See surrogacy in Illinois.
Who can be a surrogate in Georgia?
Georgia law sets no surrogate requirements, because there is no surrogacy statute. PLS applies one standard in every state. A Georgia surrogate must be:
- 21 to 43 years old
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- Someone with at least one healthy full-term pregnancy who is raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- Living in a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
She then completes seven screening steps: application, interview, a medical records review, background check, insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at your clinic. Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, does the records review. He has practiced medicine for more than 30 years, many of those cases obstetric and gynecologic, and he reads each candidate's prenatal and delivery records himself before writing a physician medical summary for your clinic.
How does PLS work with Georgia surrogates and parents?
PLS recruits Georgia surrogates, particularly in metro Atlanta, and matches them with intended parents across the US and abroad. Matching is done by Nancy Block, RN, who founded PLS in 2017, spent 17 years as an OB/GYN and fertility nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and is a former president of SEEDS, the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy.
A Georgia surrogate monitors at an Atlanta-area clinic and travels to your clinic for screening and the transfer. Escrow pays that travel. Her case manager, Natalie Gaudio-Fricano or Jenni Symons, has carried for other families herself. Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor, gives her at least six nutrition consults.
What happens when:
- Matching: about 9 months from signing to surrogate introduction today; the target is 6 or fewer.
- Legal and medical foundations: 1 to 2 months. Your Georgia attorney picks the county and plans the parentage order around your family's facts. You fund escrow.
- Medical cycle: 2 to 3 months, ending in the embryo transfer. The pregnancy test follows 9 to 11 days later.
- Pregnancy and birth, with parentage completed on your attorney's plan.
Expect 18 to 24 months from start to finish. PLS keeps attorneys, psychologists and escrow independent on purpose, so each professional answers only to the client who hired them.
What does a Georgia journey cost and how is money held?
Intended parents typically spend $150,000 to $210,000 in total, including clinic fees and insurance. A Georgia surrogate costs the same as one anywhere else PLS recruits.
- PLS program fee. $47,500. It is paid $22,500 at signing, $20,000 at surrogate acceptance and $5,000 at medical clearance.
- Surrogate compensation. A typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000 on a $60,000 first-time base (proposed), or $65,000 to $70,000 base for an experienced surrogate. See surrogate compensation in Georgia.
- Third-party costs, $15,300 to $29,000, covering both attorneys, escrow, the psychological evaluation, background check, insurance review, travel and monitoring. A post-birth order or adoption for a non-genetic parent adds legal work; get the estimate in writing.
- Surrogate health insurance, $5,000 to $40,000, only if her own plan excludes surrogacy.
- IVF and clinic fees, paid to your clinic.
Funds for the surrogate are held by an independent licensed escrow agent, not by PLS. You deposit $10,000 at match and the balance before she starts medications, and you can choose the escrow company yourself. Agency failures are why: the Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025 and was followed by a federal indictment in August 2026, and the SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. PLS has used independent licensed escrow since it opened in 2017.
The full budget is on the cost of surrogacy. Compare Georgia with other states on surrogacy laws by state.
Sources
- Georgia court practice on parentage orders in gestational surrogacy. No Georgia surrogacy statute applies. Pending review by Georgia counsel.
- Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005) and Equality for Every Family Act (2025), Illinois General Assembly. Pending review by counsel.
- SEEDS, Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy.