Can You Be a Surrogate If You Take Antidepressants?

If you're taking an antidepressant right now, you'll need to talk with your prescriber before surrogacy is a realistic next step. Here's what ASRM guidance says, what agencies typically ask for, and how to approach it safely and honestly.

Published September 24, 2026 · Updated October 7, 2026

Not while you're currently taking one: ASRM's guidance for gestational carriers lists current use of psychoactive medication, which includes antidepressants, among its criteria for rejection of a carrier candidate. If you took one in the past, the psychological evaluation will look at what it was for, because ASRM also lists a history of major depression, postpartum mood disorder, bipolar disorder, psychosis, or a clinically significant anxiety disorder with impaired functioning among those criteria too - and you should never stop or change a medication on your own.

This is one of the most common questions we get, and it's almost always asked quietly - in a follow-up email, or near the end of a call, after someone has decided we're safe to ask. It deserves a straight answer, which is why it comes first on this page. A past prescription doesn't necessarily close the door forever, but the reason you took it matters, and either way this is a conversation to have early, with your doctor and with us.

What follows is a plain description of how mental health history is evaluated in surrogacy. It isn't medical advice, and no one at Borne can tell you what to do with a prescription - that conversation belongs to you and the doctor who wrote it.

What ASRM guidance says

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine's committee opinion on gestational carriers (2022) requires a psychological evaluation by a qualified mental health professional for every carrier candidate, and for her partner or main support person too. It also lists specific criteria for rejection of a gestational carrier candidate. Several of them relate to mental health:

• Current use of psychoactive medication. In practice, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications and ADHD stimulants are all psychoactive medications.
• A history of major depression, postpartum mood disorder, bipolar disorder, psychosis, or a clinically significant anxiety disorder with impaired functioning.
• Unresolved or untreated depression, anxiety, eating disorders, abuse, or a traumatic pregnancy, labor or delivery.
• Abnormal psychological evaluation or testing results, as determined by the mental health professional.

So if you're taking an antidepressant today, the honest answer is that you would need to come off it - safely, with your prescriber's guidance - before moving forward. And if you took one in the past, the evaluator will want to understand what it was for, because under ASRM guidance the diagnosis behind the prescription matters, not just the medication.

What agencies typically ask for

Agencies and fertility clinics set their own requirements in line with this guidance, and the details differ from program to program. As one example, a partner agency we work with asks for the following when a candidate has taken an antidepressant:

• If you're currently taking one, you would need to taper off under your physician's supervision and have their clearance.
• You would need to be off the medication for at least six weeks before moving forward.
• If you took one in the past, it can't have been during a pregnancy.

Other agencies may set different or stricter conditions, so treat this as an illustration of what to expect rather than a rule every program uses. And meeting an agency's conditions doesn't clear you under ASRM guidance on its own - the psychological evaluation still happens, and ASRM's history criteria (such as a past diagnosis of major depression or postpartum mood disorder) still apply after you've stopped the medication.

What the psychological evaluation covers

Every surrogate - along with her partner or main support person - completes a psychological evaluation with a qualified mental health professional before any legal contract is signed. Under ASRM guidance it includes a clinical interview, standardized psychological testing (often the MMPI or PAI), and counseling about what the journey involves. On the mental health side, the interview asks directly about:

• Your psychiatric history, including depression, anxiety, postpartum mood symptoms, eating disorders, bipolar disorder and psychosis.
• Prior hospitalizations, suicide attempts, psychiatric medications and counseling, however long ago they happened.
• Postpartum history specifically. A surrogate delivery has its own postpartum period, and ASRM lists a history of postpartum mood disorder among its criteria for rejection.
• Your support system and current stressors. Who is at home, who knows what you're doing, and what else is going on in your life.

It's a clinical assessment, and its findings help decide whether you move forward. The evaluator's job is to make sure surrogacy is safe for you, not to catch you out.

Anxiety, ADHD, and everything that isn't depression

The same guidance applies. Current use of an anti-anxiety medication or an ADHD stimulant is current use of a psychoactive medication. A history of bipolar disorder, psychosis, or a clinically significant anxiety disorder with impaired functioning is on ASRM's list of reasons to decline a candidate. An eating disorder or trauma history is asked about specifically, and unresolved or untreated ones are on the list too.

Disclose it. Every time.

This is the part worth being blunt about. The single worst version of this situation is a candidate who leaves out a mental health history, clears the paperwork, and has it surface later - in a pharmacy record, in a medical release, in a conversation where the timeline doesn't add up.

At that point the problem isn't the diagnosis. It's the omission. A history you disclosed is a fact the program can assess. A history you concealed raises questions about what else was left out, and it typically ends the journey.

You will sign medical releases. Your records will be reviewed. Assume everything is visible, because functionally it is.

How to prepare if this is your situation

• Talk to your prescriber first. Ask whether coming off your medication is safe for you and, if so, how to taper. Your health comes before any surrogacy timeline.
• Get it documented. A short note from your doctor confirming what the medication was for, when you started and stopped, and their clearance gives the agency and evaluator a clear picture.
• Know your dates. When you started, when the dose changed, when you stopped, and whether you took anything during a pregnancy.
• Be ready to talk about your own postpartum periods honestly.

Where this comes up in the process

Borne's questionnaire and screening call cover your eligibility basics - your pregnancy history, your location, your general health picture. If you tell us about a current or past antidepressant, we'll be straight with you about what agencies are likely to ask for. The full mental health review happens later, at the psychological evaluation and the clinic's medical screening, where you'll have a real conversation with a real clinician.