Surrogacy in Massachusetts
We serve all of Massachusetts, working with surrogates and intended parents in Boston, Cambridge, Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford, and the towns in between. Since 2025, gestational surrogacy has been written into Massachusetts law through the Massachusetts Parentage Act, and most of the process happens where you live: you apply from home, match from home, and see your own OB for prenatal care, with a small number of trips to the fertility clinic in California. Here is what that actually looks like from Massachusetts.
- Serving
- All of MassachusettsBoston, Cambridge, Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford, and beyond
- Helping families since
- 2015Coordinated from our California home office
- The law
- Written into statute in 2025Massachusetts Parentage Act
- Parentage
- Vests at birth under the ActJudgment of parentage before or after the birth, when the agreement meets the Act's requirements
How surrogacy works when you live in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has had a surrogacy statute since 2025, so the questions here are about how that statute works and about logistics: where does everything actually happen? Almost all of it happens at home. Here is the honest geography for each side.
Your OB, your hospital, your town
Applying, screening conversations, and records review all happen from home by phone and video. The two clinic milestones, the medical evaluation and the embryo transfer, happen at the fertility clinic in California. From Boston that is a cross-country flight, roughly six and a half hours, and we say so plainly: a small number of planned trips, booked together, never a relocation.
Once pregnancy is confirmed, everything comes home: your own OB, your own hospital, whether you deliver in Boston or the Berkshires, with your coordinator a call away the whole time. The full picture is on our become a surrogate page.
One team, coordinated to Massachusetts
Consultations happen by video, or in person at our California home office when you want a table between you. One coordinator runs the match, the screening, and the clinic, and the legal work is handled by independent attorneys on each side, which the Massachusetts Parentage Act lists among its requirements for an enforceable surrogacy agreement, with the surrogate's counsel paid for by the intended parents.
We tell you where each step happens, and who is in the room, before you commit to anything. Start with surrogacy for intended parents.
What the law says in Massachusetts, plainly.
Massachusetts has a specific statute for this, the Massachusetts Parentage Act, in effect since January 1, 2025. It sets out who may enter a surrogacy agreement, what the agreement needs before it is enforceable, and how the intended parents' parentage is established: by operation of law at the birth, with a judgment of parentage the court can issue before or after the birth. The full state-by-state picture lives on our law guide.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your own Massachusetts attorney confirms how it applies to your match.
Read our full surrogacy law guideMassachusetts's surrogacy law is written into statute, the Massachusetts Parentage Act, in effect since 2025. Under the Act, a surrogacy agreement is enforceable when it meets the Act's requirements and contains the terms the Act requires. The requirements: the surrogate is at least 21, has given birth before, and has completed a medical evaluation and a mental-health consultation; each intended parent is at least 21 and has completed a mental-health consultation; at least one party lives in Massachusetts, or a screening or medical step happens there; the agreement is in writing, signed by every party, notarized, and executed before any medical procedure attempting a pregnancy, with the screening evaluation and consultation coming first; and the surrogate, the surrogate's spouse if any, and each intended parent have independent legal representation, paid for by the intended parents and named in the agreement. The required terms include that the intended parents pay the surrogate's surrogacy-related expenses that insurance does not cover, that the agreement does not infringe on the surrogate's right to make every health and welfare decision about her own body and pregnancy, and that each side's right to end the agreement is spelled out. In the Act's own words, an agreement may provide for payment of consideration and reasonable expenses. Every Lily Baby match is drafted that way, with independent counsel on each side, before any medications begin.
When the agreement meets those requirements, each intended parent is a parent of the child by operation of law at birth, and any party can ask the court for a judgment of parentage, which the court can issue before or after the birth as the parties request, in a proceeding closed to the public if a party asks. The Act also states that a child has the same rights and protections to parentage without regard to the marital status, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation of the parents, including a child born through surrogacy.
A note on accuracy. We work in gestational surrogacy only, where the surrogate is not genetically related to the child. The Act treats genetic surrogacy separately, with a court-validation step of its own, and nothing on this page describes that path. Under the Act the drafting and the counsel carry the weight, which is why every match includes independent attorneys on each side.
Requirements to become a surrogate in Massachusetts
These are the general guidelines most surrogacy programs follow, ours included. Read them as a starting point rather than a verdict; the deciding step is always a conversation and a medical review.
Are between about 21 and 38 years oldThe range can flex based on your health history.
Have given birth before and are raising a child of your ownAgencies and clinics look for prior pregnancy experience.
Had healthy, full-term pregnancies and deliveriesReviewed with your medical records during screening.
Are in good general healthConfirmed through a clinic medical evaluation.
Live in a stable home with reliable supportA partner, family, or friends you can lean on.
Do not smoke or use illicit drugsAsked about and reviewed as part of screening.
Are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent residentHelps keep the legal process clean and predictable.
Have a stable income, not relying on cash assistanceSo compensation is genuinely yours to keep.
Screening is the same everywhere we work. What carries the weight is the screening itself: your records, a clinic evaluation, and psychological screening, done in that order and explained as we go.
About pay: compensation is real, it is written into your agreement before any medications begin, and it is shaped by your situation. Other agencies post headline numbers; we would rather have the conversation with you personally, so the number you hear is actually yours.
A c-section in your history? A tubal ligation, anxiety, or PCOS? Usually not the end of the story, and never a reason to be turned away unheard. Our surrogate eligibility guide takes those questions one condition at a time, the become a surrogate page covers the whole arc, or simply reach out.
Building your family from Boston, Worcester, or Cambridge
From Massachusetts, working with us means one coordinated team: the match, the screening, the clinic, and the independent legal work, all run by one person you know by name. Here is what that means in practice.
Remote first, in person when you want
Video consultations fit around work and family; when you would rather meet in person, the California home office is a nonstop flight from Boston. The step-by-step arc is on our how surrogacy works page.
Independent counsel on each side, and that is a good thing
The Massachusetts Parentage Act lists independent legal representation for the surrogate, the surrogate's spouse if any, and each intended parent, paid for by the intended parents and named in the agreement, among its requirements for an enforceable agreement. In every Lily Baby match your agreement is drafted and reviewed by independent attorneys on each side before any medications begin, and your attorneys handle the judgment of parentage, which the court can issue before or after the birth. They carry that process so you do not have to.
Every kind of family, welcomed
The Massachusetts Parentage Act states that a child has the same rights and protections to parentage without regard to the marital status, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation of the parents, and it defines an intended parent as a person whether married or unmarried. We welcome married, unmarried, LGBTQ+, and single intended parents alike. See how we support LGBTQ+ families.
Clear costs before you commit
Surrogate compensation is one part of the cost of surrogacy in Massachusetts, and the clinic, the legal work, and your insurance shape the rest, so we post no price lists and we spring no surprises. Before you commit, we walk what shapes the total and put a personalized estimate in writing for your situation. Our surrogacy costs guide shows how that conversation works.
How does surrogacy work in Massachusetts?
Six steps, the same order every time, at the pace your match sets. Here is the road from first call to homecoming.
First conversation and application
By phone or video from anywhere in Massachusetts. Surrogates begin an application; intended parents talk goals, timing, and the kind of relationship they hope to have with their surrogate. Nothing medical yet.
Screening, remote first
Records review and psychological screening are arranged around your schedule, mostly from home. The in-person clinic evaluation is one of the planned California trips, with dates you will know well in advance.
Matching
We introduce a surrogate and intended parents who fit each other on values, expectations, communication style, and the practical things, like contact during pregnancy and views on tough medical decisions. You decide together whether to move forward.
Legal contracts with independent counsel
Each side retains its own attorney, with the surrogate's counsel paid for by the intended parents as the Massachusetts Parentage Act provides, and the gestational agreement is completed, signed, and notarized before any medications begin, which is also the Act's sequence: after the screening evaluation and mental-health consultation, and before any medical procedure attempting a pregnancy. This is also when compensation and expenses go into writing.
Embryo transfer and pregnancy
The California clinic handles the medical cycle and the transfer. Then Massachusetts takes over: your own OB, your own hospital, your own bed, from the first heartbeat appointment to delivery, with your coordinator close to both sides throughout.
Parentage and birth
Your attorneys complete the parentage work. Under the Act, when the agreement meets its requirements, each intended parent is a parent of the child by operation of law at the birth, and the court can issue the judgment of parentage before or after the birth. Then the family goes home together.
A California team, honest about the miles
Our home office is in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend a Boston storefront. Massachusetts is a genuine cross-country flight away, so the program is built for it: phone and video for everything except the clinic steps, scheduled around your work and your kids, with trips planned well ahead and a coordinator who runs cross-country matches every day.
When you reach out, a real person calls you back and stays your person from then on, whether home is a Boston suburb, a street in New Bedford or Springfield, or a town out in the Berkshires. The only steps that bring you to California are the clinic ones.
11989 Arrow Route, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(626) 528-6868
Massachusetts surrogacy, answered
Is surrogacy legal in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts has written gestational surrogacy into statute. The Massachusetts Parentage Act, in effect since January 1, 2025, sets out who may enter a surrogacy agreement, what the agreement needs before it is enforceable, and how each intended parent becomes a parent of the child by operation of law at the birth.
The Act covers gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate does not use her own egg, which is the only path we work in; it treats genetic surrogacy separately. Among its requirements are independent counsel for the surrogate, the surrogate's spouse if any, and each intended parent, paid for by the intended parents, and an agreement signed before any medical procedure attempting a pregnancy. For the state-by-state picture, see our surrogacy law guide.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Massachusetts?
Roughly: 21 to 38 years old, at least one healthy birth, a child you are raising now, good general health, no smoking, and a stable, supported home.
Those program guidelines plus medical and psychological screening carry the decision. Every application is read by a person, not a filter; the surrogate eligibility guide handles the condition-by-condition questions.
Do I have to travel to California?
Yes, for exactly two kinds of milestones: the clinic evaluation and the embryo transfer, which happen at the fertility clinic in California.
Those are planned trips we book together, well in advance. Everything else, the application, the screening conversations, your prenatal care, and the delivery, stays home in Massachusetts with your own OB and hospital.
Do you need a lawyer for surrogacy in Massachusetts?
Every Lily Baby match includes independent counsel on each side, and the Massachusetts Parentage Act is written the same way: the surrogate, the surrogate's spouse if any, and each intended parent have independent legal representation, paid for by the intended parents and named in the agreement, among the Act's requirements for an enforceable surrogacy agreement.
Your attorneys draft and review the agreement before any medications begin, then certify to the court that the Act's requirements were met and handle the judgment of parentage, which the court can issue before or after the birth. We coordinate the referrals so you are never hunting for counsel alone.
How do intended parents in Boston or Worcester get started?
Call or write, and tell us where you are: whether you have embryos, what your timing looks like, and what you want this to feel like.
Consultations run by video, or at the California home office if you prefer to meet in person, and from there one coordinator manages the match, the screening, the clinic, and the independent legal work. Begin with surrogacy for intended parents or the how surrogacy works guide.
Get started in Massachusetts
It starts with a conversation, from wherever you are in Massachusetts. We listen first, then show you exactly what comes next.