Are there laws that DO protect intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement??
A. In California and Arkansas, surrogacy contracts are recognized and upheld in court. These US states also have “pre-birth orders” which are documents prepared during the pregnancy recognizing the intended parents as the legal parents. At birth, the intended parents have full legal custody of their child if this document is in place. Canada does not have “pre-birth orders” because the law does not recognize a fetus as being a child. Hopefully this law will change in the future. Some Canadian intended parents purposely go to California for a surrogate mother for protection under these laws.
