Paid surrogacy in KY banned under bill proposed by anti-abortion lawmaker
A Republican state lawmaker wants to make commercial surrogacy in Kentucky a felony offense.
Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, filed House Bill 697 Monday afternoon, which would ban any person or agency from entering into, soliciting, or enforcing a commercial surrogacy agreement. It would be a Class D felony on the first offense and a Class C felony for any subsequent offenses.
Gestational surrogacy is a common form of modern surrogacy and happens when a woman carries another couple’s embryo and gives birth on their behalf. In the U.S., the practice is not regulated by the federal government, so it’s up to the states to impose their own laws.
Commercial surrogacy, also called compensated surrogacy, is when the surrogate receives payment in addition to being reimbursed for pregnancy- and surrogacy-related expenses throughout the progress, according to American Surrogacy, an organization that has more than 40 years of experience in surrogacy and adoption services.
Tate’s bill would not apply to altruistic surrogacy, which is where the surrogate is only reimbursed for medical care and pregnancy-related expenses. The criminal provision also does not apply to a woman acting as a surrogate or a child born as a result of a prohibited commercial surrogacy agreement.
During her tenure in the legislature, Tate, who is not seeking reelection this year, has been a staunch opponent of abortion. Earlier this session, she also filed a bill that would expand and create new penalties related to “abortion-inducing drugs” and assisted suicide.
Her surrogacy bill also has a list of exceptions that count as reimbursement for expenses related to the pregnancy and not as compensation, which includes hospital and medical services for the child’s birth, medical and other “reasonable birth-related expenses.”
While some states permit commercial surrogacy for all parents, including California, New Hampshire and New Jersey, other states have tight laws surrounding compensated surrogacy contracts.
Louisiana prohibits commercial surrogacy and imposes civil and criminal penalties. According to Louisiana law, surrogates can only be reimbursed for pregnancy-related and birth-related expenses and is allowed under strict conditions only for heterosexual couples.
Meanwhile, Nebraska makes compensated surrogacy agreements void and unenforceable but does not declare them illegal.
Some states used to have a criminal ban on commercial surrogacy but have recently repealed that ban. In 2024, the Michigan legislature passed a bill that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law legalizing surrogacy contracts and compensated surrogacy.
New York in 2021 made a similar move which passed a law allowing gestational surrogacy on a commercial basis, involving a surrogate who is not genetically related to the embryo.
While supporters in Michigan said the ban on commercial surrogacy left families in legal limbo and forced them to leave the state to have children, critics, particularly among religious groups, believe surrogacy exploits woman and makes children “the basis of a commercial contract.”
Pope Francis had echoed these concerns when he was head of the Catholic Church in 2024 and called for a worldwide ban on surrogacy because it turns the child into “an object of trafficking.”
Tate’s bill has yet to be assigned to committee.
