Can You Be a Surrogate in Texas?

Texas has its own gestational surrogacy law. Here's what it asks of you, how the 14-day rule and court validation work, and what the 2026 legislative headlines do and don't change.

Published October 14, 2026

Yes, gestational surrogacy is legal in Texas, and the state has its own law for it in Chapter 160 of the Texas Family Code. To get that law's protection, the agreement has to be signed more than 14 days before the embryo transfer and validated by a court, and the statute adds a few requirements of its own, including that you've had at least one previous pregnancy and delivery.

Texas comes up on our screening calls a lot, partly because so many women live there and partly because people have heard that it has "real" surrogacy law. That's true. Texas wrote gestational agreements into its Family Code in 2003, and the Department of State Health Services reported 657 surrogacy births in Texas in 2025. Here's what the statute actually asks of you, in plain language, and what the 2026 headlines do and don't mean.

What Texas law covers

The Texas statute covers gestational surrogacy only: it says the gestational mother's eggs may not be used. If you've been reading about the difference, our article on gestational vs. traditional surrogacy explains it. Nothing in the statute prohibits compensating a gestational carrier.

The agreement has to be in writing, and the parties are you, your husband if you're married, the intended parents, and any egg or sperm donor. The intended parents must be married to each other. You don't have to be married yourself, but if you are, your husband signs the agreement and joins the court case, because the statute treats him as a party.

What the statute asks of you

A Texas court validates the agreement only if it finds certain things are true. The ones that concern you directly:

• A previous pregnancy and delivery. The statute requires that you've had at least one previous pregnancy and delivery, and that another pregnancy wouldn't pose an unreasonable risk to your health or the baby's. That lines up with ASRM's guidance that a carrier should ideally have had at least one term, uncomplicated pregnancy.
• You entered the agreement voluntarily and understand its terms.
• Your health care costs are covered. The parties must have adequately provided for reasonable health care expenses tied to the pregnancy, including if the agreement ends.

The court also needs medical evidence that the intended mother can't carry a pregnancy to term, or can't without unreasonable risk, and normally a home study of the intended parents. Those are their side of the paperwork, not yours.

The timeline: 14 days and a court order

Under the statute, everyone has to sign the agreement before the 14th day preceding the transfer. Then the intended parents and you ask a court to validate it. To bring that case in Texas, either you or the intended parents must have lived in Texas for the 90 days before it's filed.

This step matters more than it sounds. A gestational agreement that isn't validated is unenforceable in Texas, and parentage is then decided under the general rules of the Family Code instead. That's the situation everyone, including you, is trying to avoid, which is why your attorney will want the court order in place before any transfer.

Your health decisions stay yours

The statute says a gestational agreement may not limit your right to make decisions to safeguard your own health or the health of the embryo. It also requires the agreement to state that the physician has explained the medical risks, including the health risks of the fertility drugs and transfer and the reasonably foreseeable psychological effects. That fits closely with ASRM's Ethics Committee, which says a carrier is the sole source of consent for her own medical care and has a right to be fully informed of the risks.

If plans change before you're pregnant

Until you become pregnant through the transfer, you, your husband if you're married, or either intended parent can end a validated agreement by giving written notice to the others. The statute says that if you end it this way, you and your husband aren't liable to the intended parents for doing so. Once you're pregnant, the contract and the court order govern.

After the birth

The intended parents file a notice of the birth with the court. The court then issues an order confirming them as the legal parents and directing the state to issue a birth certificate naming them. If you marry after the agreement was validated, the statute says the marriage doesn't affect it, and your new husband isn't presumed to be the father. Court records in these cases are open only under the same confidentiality standards as Texas adoptions. Our article on what a pre-birth order is and why it matters covers how parentage orders work more generally.

What the 2026 headlines mean

You may have seen news that Texas lawmakers are looking at surrogacy. In July 2026, the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on an interim charge about foreign interests in the surrogacy and fertility industries, and the state Republican Party's platform supports banning contract surrogacy involving foreign nationals. As of now, nothing has been enacted. Any change would come through legislation, and the Legislature's next regular session begins in January 2027.

For a woman considering surrogacy in Texas today, the practical meaning is that the current Texas statute is the law in effect today, and nothing proposed so far has changed it. If you're matched with intended parents who live outside the United States, ask your attorney directly how any proposed change could affect you. ASRM's guidance makes the same point in general terms: surrogacy laws vary from state to state and may change, which is why it says it is imperative that you have your own independent attorney, licensed in the relevant state.

Where this comes up with Borne

Our questionnaire asks where you live, because state law shapes everything that follows. Texas is one of the states where we work, and a couple of states don't allow it at all. If you're in Texas, we'll talk through the timeline on your screening call, and the partner agency and your attorney typically handle the court process with you.