Surrogacy in Arkansas: The Complete 2026 Guide

Ivy accepts gestational carrier applications across Arkansas — central Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, and the smaller cities in between.

Arkansas is one of a small number of states whose code names surrogacy outright. Ark. Code § 9-10-201 carves surrogacy out of the ordinary birth-mother presumption and tells a court whose child the child is — the Arkansas Supreme Court has called it "the assisted-reproduction statute."

• A statute that addresses surrogacy by name, where most states leave the question to be argued from general law.
• No compensation rule to work around. Arkansas's code neither authorizes nor limits what a gestational carrier is paid; it does not address the subject.
• One clear forum. These petitions go to Arkansas circuit court — since Amendment 80, the state's only general-jurisdiction trial court.
• Fertility care in two metros — Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas.

The constraint to know first: the statute dates from 1985 and has not been touched since a 1989 amendment. It is written around "artificial insemination," a "biological father," and "the woman intended to be the mother." It does not describe every family, it does not validate agreements, and for birth registration it directs that the woman who gives birth be listed on the certificate, with a substituted certificate issued on a court order. Who the statute reaches, and when an order can be entered, are questions for Arkansas counsel — before you match.

Arkansas is unusual: its code names surrogacy expressly and tells a court whose child the child is — but it does not validate agreements, require pre-approval, or set eligibility rules. No reported Arkansas appellate decision has ruled on gestational surrogacy, on the enforceability of a surrogacy agreement under Arkansas law, or on carrier pay.

What the statute settles

• Surrogacy is carved out of the ordinary presumption. Ark. Code § 9-10-201 provides that a child born by artificial insemination is presumed to be the child of the woman giving birth and her husband "except in the case of a surrogate mother, in which event the child shall be that of: (1) The biological father and the woman intended to be the mother if the biological father is married; (2) The biological father only if unmarried; or (3) The woman intended to be the mother in cases of a surrogate mother when an anonymous donor's sperm was utilized for artificial insemination." The same three clauses apply whether the woman giving birth is married or unmarried.
• The parentage chapter confirms the carve-out by name. § 9-10-102(a)(4) defines "presumed mother" as "the woman who gave birth to the child, except as otherwise provided under § 9-10-201."
• The forum is circuit court, and the statute sets no filing deadline. § 9-10-102 puts these actions there: an action to establish paternity "shall be commenced and proceed under the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure applicable in circuit court" (subsection (b)), while subsection (c)(1) provides that "a proceeding to adjudicate the parentage of a child may be commenced at any time" — a limitations provision, not an express authorization to enter an order before a birth. Since Amendment 80 took effect in 2001, circuit courts have been the state's general-jurisdiction trial courts. There is no surrogacy-specific court, docket, or form, and which county the petition belongs in is for your attorney.
• Nothing addresses carrier compensation. Sections 9-10-201 and 9-10-202 are the entire subchapter, and neither uses the words compensation, payment, consideration, contract, enforceable, void, or public policy. The code neither permits nor forbids paying a gestational carrier; it is silent.

Who the statute's clauses reach, and who they do not

• Equal treatment for married same-sex couples comes from the courts, not the legislature. In Pavan v. Smith (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court summarily reversed the Arkansas Supreme Court: "same-sex parents in Arkansas lack the same right as opposite-sex parents to be listed on a child's birth certificate." On remand, the Arkansas Supreme Court in Smith v. Pavan, 2017 Ark. 284, directed relief "extending the benefit of the statutes at issue to same-sex spouses" rather than striking them, and called § 9-10-201 "the assisted-reproduction statute." Both are birth-certificate cases, not surrogacy cases. The legislature never rewrote the text: a 2017 gender-neutrality bill (SB580) died in committee.
• The text dates from 1985 and has not been touched since a 1989 amendment. Its clauses are keyed to marriage and to a "biological father," and speak of a "husband" and "the woman intended to be the mother." Married intended parents using the intended father's sperm fit clause (1) on its face; an intended mother fits clause (3) only "when an anonymous donor's sperm was utilized." An unmarried intended parent alongside a partner, an arrangement using a known sperm donor rather than an anonymous one, and any configuration outside the three clauses are simply not addressed — married same-sex couples aside, where Pavan requires equal treatment. That is not a prohibition, but the route has to be planned by Arkansas counsel before matching.
• A textual gap on IVF. The section reaches a child "born by means of artificial insemination," and an IVF embryo transfer is not literally that. The Arkansas Supreme Court's "assisted-reproduction statute" description is the best available support for reading it more broadly — a characterization, not a holding about IVF.

The court order and the birth certificate

• The statute puts the carrier on the original certificate. § 9-10-201(c)(2): "For birth registration purposes, in cases of surrogate mothers the woman giving birth shall be presumed to be the natural mother and shall be listed as such on the certificate of birth, but a substituted certificate of birth may be issued upon orders of a court of competent jurisdiction." An order from a court of competent jurisdiction is what moves the certificate.
• The vital-records timetable. § 20-18-401 requires a certificate to be filed within ten days after the birth, and lets a court of competent jurisdiction displace the birth-mother default "prior to the filing of the birth certificate" — a pre-filing window, not a pre-birth one. § 20-18-406 supplies the mechanics: the new certificate "shall be substituted for the original certificate of birth," and the original is sealed.
• The Department of Health treats surrogacy as a court-order matter. Its amendment page lists "Surrogate motherhood" among the changes requiring a court order, adds that "normally an attorney is needed for this type of action," and says "each case must be reviewed by our staff individually."
• So plan the order, not a promise. No Arkansas statute authorizes an order entered before delivery, and the Department frames surrogacy under amending a certificate. Whether an order can be entered before a birth in your case, and how it is sequenced with the hospital and the Department, is for Arkansas counsel. § 20-18-401(f)(1) still says "husband," so confirm current certificate fields with the Department rather than assuming a format.

When Arkansas adoption-payment law could matter

§ 9-9-206(d) bars a parent from receiving a fee "as a consideration for the relinquishment of a minor for adoption," and in its very next sentence expressly allows reimbursement of "incidental costs for prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care." Every operative word is about adoption, and no Arkansas authority applies it to a surrogacy arrangement — it matters only if an arrangement collapses into one. The trafficking offense, § 5-18-103(a)(6), likewise requires force, restraint, abuse of legal process or a coercive scheme as an element.

Independent counsel for the surrogate, independent escrow, and an agreement signed before medications begin are how Ivy keeps either question from arising.

What Arkansas law leaves open

• The agreement itself is untested. No reported Arkansas decision has ruled on a gestational carrier agreement. It does contractual and evidentiary work; it is not a statutory instrument here.
• Donor status. The subchapter's only donor language is the "anonymous donor's sperm" clause, and no reported Arkansas decision holds that egg or sperm donors are not parents. Paper any donation with counsel before conception.
• Traditional surrogacy is what the subchapter was written for — § 9-10-202 addresses physician-supervised insemination and a signed consent record, not surrogacy contracts. Ivy's programs are gestational.
• The surrogacy language has not moved; the surrounding statutes have. The surrogacy provisions of §§ 9-10-201 and 9-10-202 stand as they did in 1989 and 1985. Two 2025 acts did touch neighboring statutes without changing the surrogacy rules: Act 138 of 2025 amended § 20-18-401(b) and (c) (birth registration generally), leaving the surrogacy-relevant subsections (e) and (f) intact, and Act 713 of 2025 renumbered the adoption-consideration provision from § 9-9-206(c) to § 9-9-206(d). Nothing located in the 2025 or 2026 sessions changes how Arkansas treats a gestational surrogacy arrangement.

General information, not legal advice. Arkansas surrogacy agreements and circuit court parentage petitions should be handled by a licensed Arkansas attorney experienced in assisted reproduction.

Arkansas's statute sets no eligibility criteria — no residency test, no nationality rule, no pre-approval. What it does instead is describe particular families, so the first questions here are about fit.

• Does the statute describe your family? Its three clauses reach a married biological father together with "the woman intended to be the mother," an unmarried biological father alone, or an intended mother where "an anonymous donor's sperm was utilized" (§ 9-10-201). Married same-sex couples have the same birth-certificate treatment as married opposite-sex couples under Pavan v. Smith. What the text does not describe is an unmarried intended parent alongside a partner, a known-donor arrangement, or any configuration outside the three clauses — not forbidden, but not addressed, which makes this the first question for Arkansas counsel, before you match.
• Plan the order, not a promise. An order from a court of competent jurisdiction is what moves the birth certificate, and the statute directs that the woman who gives birth be listed on the original one. When an order can be entered in your case, and how it is sequenced with the hospital and the Department of Health, is your attorney's call — so treat any promise of a pre-birth order in Arkansas with caution.
• Coming from out of state or overseas? Nothing in the statute restricts that. Consular requirements vary, so confirm them with the relevant post before booking travel.
• Engage counsel early. The pool of Arkansas attorneys who handle assisted-reproduction parentage regularly is small, and there is no standard local form to fall back on.

Our Surrogacy by State comparison shows how Arkansas sits against the alternatives.

These are Ivy's quoted figures as of August 2026, not statewide averages:

• The surrogacy journey itself (~$140,000–$150,000). Agency fee, surrogate compensation, legal and escrow services, and health insurance — matching and contracts through pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care. The Arkansas circuit court parentage petition sits inside the legal line.
• IVF and embryo creation (~$40,000, billed by the clinic). Stimulation, retrieval, embryo culture, transfer, and optional PGT-A testing. Billed separately from the surrogacy budget above.
• Egg donation (if needed, ~$30,000+). Donor coordination, compensation, legal work, and related expenses.

Putting it together: surrogacy only ≈ $140,000–$150,000; surrogacy + IVF ≈ $180,000–$190,000; surrogacy + IVF + egg donation ≈ $210,000–$220,000+. For breakdowns and sample payment schedules, see our surrogacy cost guide and egg donation cost overview.

The Arkansas-specific line items are small but worth budgeting: the Department of Health charges $15.00 to amend a birth certificate, plus $12.00 for the first copy and $10.00 for each additional copy ordered at the same time. Its own guidance is that "same day service is not guaranteed for non-routine requests such as certificate corrections, court orders, paternity affidavits …" — so build the certificate into your timeline rather than your travel plans.

Your funds sit with an independent escrow company or attorney trust account, never with the agency itself — we've written about why in-house escrow is a red flag.

An Arkansas journey follows the standard gestational arc. What is state-specific sits at the contract, parentage, and certificate stages.

1. Matching. Counsel maps your family onto § 9-10-201's clauses and plans the parentage route — the step that matters most in Arkansas, and the one that belongs before a match rather than after.
2. Screening. Records review, IVF-clinic medical screening, and psychological evaluation; a partner is screened too.
3. Contracts. Independent counsel on each side — at Ivy the intended parents pay for the surrogate's. Arkansas Fertility & Gynecology Associates in Little Rock publishes the same rule: "it is mandatory that both the intended parents and the surrogate obtain independent legal counsel regarding this procedure," with the contract finalized before a cycle begins.
4. Escrow funded. Compensation goes into an independent escrow account before medications start.
5. Cycle and transfer. Lining-preparation medications only: no ovarian stimulation, no retrieval, then transfer at the clinic.
6. Pregnancy. Payments flow monthly from confirmation of a fetal heartbeat; care moves to an OB around 8–10 weeks, usually near the surrogate's home.
7. Parentage. Your attorney files in Arkansas circuit court. There is no surrogacy-specific form or docket, and timing relative to delivery is your attorney's call, not a rule you can read off the statute.
8. Birth and certificate. By statute the woman who gives birth is listed on the certificate of birth, and a substituted certificate may issue on a court order. The Department of Health reviews each case individually and does not guarantee same-day service on court-order requests.

Most journeys take one to two years.

Arkansas's code says nothing about what a gestational carrier is paid or what her agreement must contain, so your protections come from your contract, your own attorney, and escrow.

• Your attorney is paid for by the intended parents and works for you alone, including on the medical decision-making and termination clauses. Arkansas Fertility & Gynecology Associates in Little Rock takes the same position in its published policy — independent counsel on both sides is mandatory before a cycle begins.
• You remain the patient. Subject to Arkansas law, you keep the authority to consent to or refuse care; a contract cannot compel a procedure or hand your consent to someone else. Have your attorney walk you through how your contract's medical clauses work in practice.
• Your compensation is escrowed before you start — held by an independent escrow company or attorney trust account, funded before medications, and disbursed monthly from confirmation of a fetal heartbeat.
• Have your health insurance reviewed professionally before you sign. Many policies exclude surrogacy, and that review belongs at the contract stage. Arkansans enroll through HealthCare.gov, which states that "being pregnant doesn't qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period, but the birth of a child does" — a plan you already hold before pregnancy covers a pregnancy already under way.
• Most appointments stay local. A Conway practice publishes ultrasound monitoring, a Fayetteville clinic publishes in-office insemination, and the Department of Health offers vital records services in every county — travel is usually limited to the transfer itself.
• Tell the team early where you plan to deliver, and promptly if that changes.

The application takes about ten minutes.

Arkansas sets no statutory age, residency, prior-birth, or marital requirement for a gestational carrier — § 9-10-201 assigns parentage but imposes no eligibility criteria on anyone. The requirements that decide whether you can carry come from clinics and agencies. Ivy's guidelines:

• Age 20–36. You can apply at 20; screening and matching take months, so you'll typically be 21 or older by the medical process.
• At least one healthy, full-term pregnancy of your own, currently raising your child.
• BMI of 32 or below.
• No more than 2 C-sections, and no more than 5 total deliveries. These come from IVF clinic requirements rather than from state law; the treating clinic reviews your obstetric history and applies its own criteria.
• No smoking, vaping, or THC use — at least 6 months clean, verified by clinic testing.
• Financially stable and not relying on public assistance.
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident (green card) with a stable living situation.

The clinic then screens too: communicable disease, a current normal Pap, obstetric records, the uterus, and written psychological screening.

After a vaginal delivery you can apply as early as 3 months postpartum; C-section recovery takes longer. Unsure whether something disqualifies you? Ask before you self-reject — the application is the fastest route to an answer.

At Ivy, first-time base compensation in Arkansas is $40,000, with $45,000–$50,000 for a second journey and $55,000–$60,000 for a third or more — for proven surrogates, we're open to discussing beyond that. Total packages, with allowances and milestone payments, run $50,000–$100,000+. Payments are held by an independent escrow company or attorney trust account — funded before you start medications, disbursed monthly from confirmation of a fetal heartbeat on your contract's schedule. The full structure is on our compensation page, and your personalized estimate comes before you commit to anything — start your application to get it.

No Arkansas statute caps, defines, or forbids what a gestational carrier is paid: the artificial-insemination subchapter never uses the words compensation, payment, or consideration, and no reported Arkansas decision has addressed the question. The payment rule readers sometimes find, § 9-9-206(d), is written around a fee "as a consideration for the relinquishment of a minor for adoption," and expressly allows reimbursement of "incidental costs for prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care." Your own attorney should confirm how and when each payment is triggered, and what happens if the medical picture changes.

The Arkansas IVF programs we list sit in two metros — central Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas. A selection, not a directory:

• Arkansas Fertility & Gynecology Associates — Little Rock; publishes a gestational surrogacy page and states that gestational surrogacy is the only type it performs
• Kindbody — Rogers, in Northwest Arkansas

Beyond those labs, a Conway practice publishes ultrasound monitoring and IUI, and a Fayetteville clinic publishes in-office insemination — useful for a surrogate matched with an out-of-state program, since monitoring can often stay close to home and travel is usually limited to the transfer. Embryos can be shipped in, or the surrogate travels to your existing clinic. Confirm current services directly with any clinic.

• Statutes: § 9-10-201 (surrogacy parentage and the substituted certificate), § 9-10-202 (physician supervision), § 9-10-102 (parentage actions in circuit court), § 20-18-401 and § 20-18-406 (birth registration and new certificates), § 9-9-206 (adoption payments).
• Case law: Pavan v. Smith, 582 U.S. 563 (2017); Smith v. Pavan, 2017 Ark. 284.
• Birth certificates: Arkansas Department of Health — amending a certificate (surrogacy requires a court order; $15.00 amendment fee) and ordering copies ($12.00 first copy, $10.00 each additional; same-day service is not guaranteed for non-routine requests such as court orders).
• Courts: Arkansas circuit courts, with the circuit clerk directory listing each county's filing office.
• Attorneys: the AAAA Arkansas directory lists fellows licensed in Arkansas.
• International: Arkansas sits in the consular district administered by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• Compare states: Surrogacy by State, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois.