Surrogacy in Georgia, USA: The Complete 2026 Guide

This page is about Georgia the U.S. state — Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta — not the country of Georgia in the Caucasus. Search results and AI summaries merge the two, attributing the country's regime to a U.S. state that has no surrogacy legislation at all. The country regulates surrogacy under a narrower national framework of its own; a 2023 proposal to restrict foreign intended parents was announced, but as of our July 2026 review we did not identify an enacted foreign-nationality ban in force there.

The U.S. state offers:

• Decades of practice. Compensated gestational surrogacy has run here for years on contracts and court orders.
• Pre-birth parentage orders in practice, from superior courts — but outcomes depend on the delivery county and on counsel who knows it.
• A 2025 legislature that moved toward assisted reproduction, not away.
• Metro Atlanta infrastructure — IVF programs running carrier cycles, major delivery hospitals, and the world's busiest passenger airport.

Georgia is a "silent" state: no gestational surrogacy statute, no published appellate decision on enforceability. Parentage comes from a superior court order under general and equitable jurisdiction.

Settled

• Nothing in Georgia law prohibits gestational surrogacy or compensating a carrier, and no statute caps or defines her compensation.
• Nothing fills the gap: Title 19's legitimacy article (O.C.G.A. §§ 19-7-20 through 19-7-27) is silent on gestational carriers, and the 2009 embryo article (§§ 19-8-40 through 19-8-43) governs donated embryos.
• No statutory eligibility conditions for intended parents — no marriage, opposite-gender, or genetic-connection requirement, no exclusion of single intended parents.
• Bolton v. Bolton, No. A25A1264 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 24, 2025), held § 19-7-21 "speaks in gender neutral terms" and applies where "both spouses" consented in writing — not a surrogacy case, but direct appellate evidence for married same-sex spouses.

Varies by county

• Practitioners, including the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, report that superior courts issue pre-birth parentage orders here. With no uniform procedure, venue, hearings, and relief turn on the carrier's residence, the planned delivery, and the judge.
• They also report both a pre-birth and a post-birth order can be obtained for the same child where counsel determines both are appropriate.

Needs case-specific advice

• Unmarried intended parents who are both non-genetic: practitioners report more friction confirming parentage. Raise it with counsel early; not a closed door.
• Traditional surrogacy uses the carrier's own egg. Not prohibited, but she is then the genetic mother and the presumptions run to her, and to her spouse if married; the non-genetic intended parent generally completes an adoption instead, with surrender and revocation-of-consent rules in play.
• O.C.G.A. § 19-8-24 (adoption chapter) bars inducements to a biological parent "to part with his or her child." It neither mentions nor excepts surrogacy, and no Georgia decision has applied it here.

What 2025 changed

• HB 327 (Act 310), effective July 1, 2025, rewrote § 19-7-21 to reach "in vitro fertilization, or other similar method of assisted reproduction," closing the Patton v. Vanterpool (2017) gap. It is not a surrogacy statute: the text never uses "surrogacy," "surrogate," or "gestational carrier," and its presumption covers a child born within the marriage — where another person carries, parentage still comes through the court order.
• HB 428 (Act 41), same date, added a rule of construction at § 31-1-26: "Nothing in this Code shall be construed to prohibit or prevent an individual from obtaining in vitro fertilization in this state." It directs how the Code is read — not an entitlement creating coverage or obliging a provider to treat.
• Our July 2026 full-text search of the General Assembly's 2023–2024 and 2025–2026 sessions found no enacted or pending bill restricting surrogacy by nationality, residency, marital status, or sexual orientation, and no Georgia law conferring personhood on embryos outside the uterus.

Birth certificates. At delivery the worksheet is completed at the hospital, and where parentage was determined judicially the certificate follows the court's order (§ 31-10-9(e)). Afterward the State Registrar issues a new certificate — not an annotated one — on a certified legitimation or paternity order, or an adoption decree (§ 31-10-14(a), (g)); the original is sealed. That list is closed — no general surrogacy pathway — so the instrument your attorney obtains matters. Georgia publishes no surrogacy-specific form and its vital-records text still says "husband" and "putative father," so the order must do that work explicitly. Confirm the hospital's process and current Vital Records requirements before delivery.

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

Georgia sets no statutory eligibility test for intended parents. Three practical questions decide the fit.

• Does your family structure fit? The one structure with more friction in practice is an unmarried couple where neither is genetically related — a conversation to have with Georgia counsel before you match, not after.
• Where will the baby be born? Choose counsel who practices regularly in the county of the planned delivery hospital, and involve them before the contract is signed.
• Are you an international intended parent? Georgia has enacted no nationality or residency restriction. Consular logistics do vary — confirm current requirements with the relevant post before you book.

Georgia offers a well-worn path rather than a written one. Our Surrogacy by State comparison is a good place to start.

These are Ivy's quoted figures as of July 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 Georgia 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.

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.

A Georgia journey follows the standard gestational surrogacy arc. What is state-specific sits at the contract and parentage stages.

1. Matching. Counsel decides which state's law applies — above all, where delivery is planned.
2. Screening. Records review, IVF-clinic medical screening, and psychological evaluation; a partner is screened too.
3. Contracts. Each side has independent counsel — at Ivy the intended parents pay for the surrogate's; clinics require both, signed, before a cycle.
4. Cycle and transfer. Lining-preparation medications only: no ovarian stimulation, no retrieval, then transfer at the clinic.
5. Pregnancy. Payments flow from escrow on schedule; care moves to an OB around 8–10 weeks.
6. Parentage. Your attorney petitions the superior court; the certified order should reach the delivery hospital before the birth.

Most journeys take one to two years; Georgia's legal steps are not slower, only less standardized.

With no statute here, 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. Those clauses do not change this: you remain the patient, and final medical decision-making authority over your own body and care stays with you. A contract cannot compel a procedure or hand your consent to someone else.
• Tell the team early where you plan to deliver, and promptly if that changes.
• Georgia's own marketplace, Georgia Access, replaces healthcare.gov here — raise enrollment windows early, and have any policy reviewed professionally.

The application takes about ten minutes.

Georgia has no statutory age, residency, prior-birth, or marital rule. 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 mirror what IVF physicians typically require.
• 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 Georgia 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 on your contract's schedule. The full structure, including the monthly allowance and milestone payments, is on our compensation page, and your personalized estimate comes before you commit to anything — start your application to get it.

No Georgia statute caps, defines, or restricts what a gestational carrier may be paid, and no decision prohibits compensated gestational surrogacy. Confirm with your attorney how and when each payment is triggered, and what happens if the medical picture changes.

Metro Atlanta carries most of Georgia's fertility infrastructure. Major programs include:

• Reproductive Biology Associates (RBA) — metro Atlanta
• Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine (ACRM) — metro Atlanta
• Shady Grove Fertility — metro Atlanta
• Emory Reproductive Center — metro Atlanta
• Georgia Center for Reproductive Medicine — Savannah
• Columbus Center for Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility — Columbus

Services change, so confirm current offerings directly with the clinic. Which clinic you use usually follows where your embryos are created, not where the surrogate lives: embryos can be shipped in, or she can travel to your existing clinic.

• The 2025 acts, signed: HB 327, HB 428; the Assembly's legislation search covers bill text.
• Birth certificates: Georgia DPH Vital Records. Certified copies go only to someone with a direct and tangible interest — which is why being named on the certificate matters.
• Attorneys: the AAAA directory lists Georgia fellows.
• Consulates: Mexico's Consulate General in Atlanta covers all of Georgia; China assigns Georgia to its Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• Compare states: Surrogacy by State, Florida, California.