Can You Be a Surrogate in Alabama?

Alabama is a state where gestational surrogacy happens without a surrogacy statute. Here's what that means for you, how parentage gets settled, and what the 2024 embryo ruling and a 2026 bill do and don't change.

Published October 16, 2026

Yes - gestational surrogacy is practiced in Alabama, but unlike Florida or Texas the state has no statute that sets out the rules for it, so your protections come mainly from your contract and from court orders whose availability varies by county. Alabama's adoption law says its ban on paying for a child's placement isn't meant to cover surrogacy, and a 2026 bill that would have created a surrogacy-specific process was referred to committee and never got a vote.

Alabama is one of the states women ask us about most carefully, often because they remember the 2024 headlines about frozen embryos and assume surrogacy must have become harder there. The reality is quieter than the headlines. Here's what the law says, what it doesn't say, and what to look for if you live in Alabama.

A state without a surrogacy statute

Some states write surrogacy into their codes: who can be a surrogate, what the contract must say, how parentage is decided. Alabama hasn't done that. As of October 2026, there is no Alabama statute that defines a gestational surrogacy agreement or sets requirements for the surrogate.

What Alabama law does say is narrow. The state's adoption code prohibits payments for placing a child for adoption, and section 26-10E-33 of the Alabama Code adds: "Surrogate motherhood is not intended to be covered by this section." No Alabama statute expressly prohibits gestational surrogacy or compensating a gestational carrier, and attorneys and agencies have worked there for years on that basis.

The practical effect is that the details a statute would fill in elsewhere have to be handled in your contract, and the question of who the legal parents are is settled by a judge rather than by a rule written into the code.

How parentage gets settled

Without a statute, intended parents in Alabama typically ask a court for an order naming them as the baby's legal parents. According to Alabama family-law attorneys, some counties routinely grant orders before the birth, while others handle it after the birth or through another route, and results can depend on where the case is filed and on the intended parents' marital status and genetic connection to the baby. A hearing is generally required.

For you, that means two things to ask early: which county the parentage case will be filed in, and what that court typically does. Our article on what a pre-birth order is and why it matters explains why the timing of that order affects the hospital stay and the birth certificate.

What the 2024 embryo ruling means

In February 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in the LePage case that frozen embryos created through IVF count as children under the state's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Several Alabama clinics paused IVF. Within weeks, the Legislature passed and the governor signed a law (Senate Bill 159) giving IVF providers civil and criminal immunity for the damage or death of an embryo when providing IVF-related services, and clinics resumed treatment.

For a surrogate, the ruling mostly sits in the background. Embryos are created and stored by the intended parents' clinic, which may or may not be in Alabama, and decisions about extra embryos are typically the intended parents' under their own IVF consents. The ruling didn't change ASRM's guidance for your cycle, which strongly recommends single embryo transfer in all gestational carrier cycles. If your transfer will happen at an Alabama clinic, it's reasonable to ask the clinic how it handles embryo storage and transfer today.

Why your contract matters more here

In a state with a detailed statute, the law guarantees some protections no matter what the contract says. In Alabama, the contract and the professionals around it do most of that work. ASRM's guidance is a good checklist for what should be in place:

• Your own attorney. ASRM says it is imperative that you have independent legal counsel licensed in the applicable state, and its Ethics Committee says you must be free to choose your own counsel.
• A signed contract before any treatment. ASRM says a fully executed agreement and a legal clearance letter should be in place before treatment starts.
• A psychological evaluation before you sign, for you and your partner or primary support person.
• Your medical decisions stay yours. ASRM's Ethics Committee says you are the sole source of consent for your own care and cannot be compelled to submit to or decline a procedure regardless of the contract.
• Health coverage and payment structure. ASRM says carriers should have adequate health care coverage for pregnancy and its complications, and that compensation should be aimed primarily at your time, inconvenience and risk, not contingent on a healthy birth.

What you'll need to qualify

Because Alabama has no statutory requirements for surrogates, the usual program criteria apply, which vary by agency and clinic but typically include ages 21 to 42, a BMI under 32 (a few programs accept up to 35), ideally at least one term, uncomplicated prior pregnancy, US citizenship or permanent residency, and a background check for you and your partner. Compensation follows the same ranges as elsewhere, typically $60,000 to $75,000 for a first journey and $75,000 to $100,000 or more for experienced surrogates, depending on the agency and contract.

Where Borne fits

We screen prospective surrogates and connect qualified candidates with partner agencies, and Alabama is one of the states we work with. If you live there, we'll talk through how the process typically works on your screening call, and the partner agency and your attorney typically guide you through the contract, while the intended parents' attorney usually handles the court filing.