Surrogacy in Louisiana: The Complete 2026 Guide

⛔ Louisiana has a full gestational carrier statute, and the same 2016 act made stepping outside it a crime. Read the criminal provision first.

La. R.S. 14:286(B)(1), verbatim: "It shall be unlawful for any person to enter into, induce, arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in a gestational carrier contract, whether written or unwritten, that is not in compliance with the requirements provided for in R.S. 9:2718 et seq."

The penalty, subsection (C): "a fine not to exceed fifty thousand dollars or imprisonment with or without hard labor for not more than ten years, or both."

⚠️ "Arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist" is a description of agency work.

And the compliant box is narrow. § 9:2718 restricts enforceable agreements to those where the intended parents "not only are married to each other, but also create the child using only their own gametes." Both sides must be domiciled in Louisiana for 180 days, a physician must certify medical necessity, a court must approve before transfer — and § 9:2720(C) bars compensation outright.

Ivy does not arrange journeys in Louisiana. This page sets out the statute and its boundary.

Louisiana's regime is Chapter 1-C of Title 9, sections 9:2718 through 9:2720.15, enacted by Acts 2016, No. 494 — together with the criminal provision the same act inserted into Title 14.

The criminal provision

R.S. 14:286(B)(1): unlawful for any person "to enter into, induce, arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in a gestational carrier contract … that is not in compliance with the requirements provided for in R.S. 9:2718 et seq." (B)(3) extends the same to any genetic (traditional) carrier agreement, "with or without compensation." (B)(4) reaches paying anyone to induce a carrier "to consent to an abortion." (C): a fine up to $50,000, imprisonment with or without hard labor up to ten years, or both.

Who may take part

§ 9:2718: the legislature "restricted the range of enforceable gestational surrogacy agreements to those in which the parties who engage the gestational surrogate not only are married to each other, but also create the child using only their own gametes."

§ 9:2718.1 defines "intended parents" as "a married couple who each exclusively contribute their own gametes to create their embryo," and "gestational carrier" as a woman carrying an embryo "to which she makes no genetic contribution."

§ 9:2720.1: the carrier must be "at least twenty-five years of age, and no older than thirty-five," and "have given birth to at least one child."

⛔ § 9:2719, in full: "A contract for a genetic gestational carrier shall be absolutely null."

No compensation

§ 9:2720(C): "No person shall enter into a gestational carrier contract for compensation … Any such contract executed in the state of Louisiana or any other state shall be absolutely null and unenforceable in the state of Louisiana as contrary to public policy."

⚠️ Note the reach of that last sentence — a contract signed in another state is null here. § 9:2720.5(B)(3) lists the only permitted payments: actual medical expenses; counseling to six months post-birth; lost wages only when bed rest has been prescribed; travel, court costs and attorney fees; and a judicially sanctioned settlement for death or loss of reproductive capability.

The two orders

§ 9:2720.3: a summary proceeding before transfer, maintainable only if the carrier "and each of the intended parents have been domiciled in this state for at least one hundred eighty days," and an independent board-certified OB-GYN or reproductive endocrinologist certifies by affidavit that the transfer is "medically necessary" — defined as the intended mother being "diagnosed to be infertile," or having a condition where pregnancy "would create serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."

§ 9:2720.5: the court shall set the matter for hearing within sixty days, and after that hearing may issue an Order Preceding Embryo Transfer approving the contract and "declaring that the intended parents shall be recognized as the legal parents."

§ 9:2720.13: on a birth "within three hundred days after in utero embryo transfer," a motion for a Post-Birth Order shall be filed — with the original birth certificate, an accounting of fees and charges, and physician verification that the carrier "was not pregnant at the time of the transfer." The order confirms legal parentage and directs "that a new birth certificate be created … and that the original birth certificate be sealed."

⚠️ So the final order comes after birth, even though the approval precedes conception.

Other provisions that matter

§ 9:2720(D) voids any clause requiring the carrier "to consent to terminate a pregnancy," including on a prenatal diagnosis of disability or for fetal reduction. § 9:2720.2 gives the carrier "sole authority with respect to medical decision-making during the term of the pregnancy," requires two counseling sessions at least thirty days apart beforehand and one within six months after, and requires the intended parents to accept custody "regardless of any impairment of the child." § 9:2720.7: hearings "in chambers or in a closed hearing," records sealed. § 9:2720.10: after transfer, "a failure to perform … does not give rise to the right to dissolution." § 9:2720.15: a Post-Birth Order may be annulled only for fraud or duress, within one year (anyone else) or two years (an intended parent).

General information, not legal advice.

⛔ Ivy does not arrange journeys in Louisiana. That is about where a journey is placed, not about where you live — an intended parent living in Louisiana can pursue a journey in a state where we do work. The local constraint is this. The reason is R.S. 14:286(B)(1), which makes it unlawful for any person to "enter into, induce, arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in" a non-compliant gestational carrier contract — punishable under (C) by "a fine not to exceed fifty thousand dollars or imprisonment with or without hard labor for not more than ten years, or both."

Louisiana does permit gestational surrogacy — inside a narrow box. Every one of these must hold:

• A married couple who "each exclusively contribute their own gametes" (§ 9:2718.1). ⛔ No donor egg, no donor sperm, no donated embryo, no single intended parent.
• Both intended parents and the carrier domiciled in Louisiana for at least 180 days (§ 9:2720.3).
• A medical-necessity affidavit from an independent board-certified OB-GYN or reproductive endocrinologist: the intended mother "diagnosed to be infertile," or a pregnancy would "create serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function."
• Court approval before transfer (§ 9:2720(B)), then a mandatory Post-Birth Order (§ 9:2720.13).
• No compensation. § 9:2720(C) — and a contract "executed in the state of Louisiana or any other state" that pays the carrier is null here.

One asymmetry to understand before you begin. § 9:2720.2 requires you to certify that the carrier "has sole authority with respect to medical decision-making during the term of the pregnancy," and to accept custody "regardless of any impairment of the child."

Contact us and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do.

⛔ There is no Ivy price for Louisiana, because Ivy does not place journeys here — and the ordinary cost structure is not merely unavailable, it is prohibited.

Compensation is barred and the bar is criminal. § 9:2720(C) makes a compensated gestational carrier contract "absolutely null and unenforceable," and R.S. 14:286(B)(2) makes it unlawful for a party — or anyone acting on a party's behalf — to "make or agree to make any disbursements" other than the listed reimbursements.

⭐ What may be paid, exhaustively (§ 9:2720.5(B)(3)): actual medical expenses; mental-health counseling up to six months after birth; actual lost wages only when bed rest has been prescribed for a maternal or fetal complication; actual travel, court costs and attorney fees; and any judicially sanctioned settlement for death, loss of reproductive capability or other complication.

The real costs here are procedural. A summary proceeding in the adoption court, an independent physician's medical-necessity affidavit, records and protective-order checks, two pre-signing counseling sessions and one after, and a second motion for the Post-Birth Order — with an accounting of every fee and charge filed with the court.

And an agency fee sits squarely in the zone R.S. 14:286(B)(1) describes — "arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in" — whenever the underlying contract is non-compliant. We located no reported prosecution, so treat this as exposure to be advised on, not a settled outcome. For what a journey costs where Ivy works, see intended parents or contact us.

⛔ There is no Ivy process to describe in Louisiana, because Ivy does not match here. What follows is the sequence the statute itself lays down.

1. Check the criminal boundary first. R.S. 14:286(B)(1) makes it unlawful to "enter into, induce, arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in" a non-compliant contract, with a penalty of up to $50,000 and ten years.
2. Confirm eligibility before anything else. A married couple using only their own gametes; a carrier 25–35 who has given birth; and 180 days' Louisiana domicile for the carrier and each intended parent (§ 9:2720.1, § 9:2720.3).
3. Obtain the medical-necessity affidavit from an independent board-certified OB-GYN or reproductive endocrinologist.
4. ⭐ Counseling before signing: the carrier must certify two sessions at least thirty days apart (§ 9:2720.2).
5. File the summary proceeding in the adoption court and obtain the Order Preceding Embryo Transfer (§ 9:2720.5) — a hearing within sixty days, and findings that expenses are provided for and that the carrier "will receive no compensation other than" the listed reimbursements.
6. Transfer, pregnancy and delivery, with the carrier holding sole medical decision-making authority and no enforceable termination clause.
7. File for the Post-Birth Order within the statutory window — the birth must occur "within three hundred days after in utero embryo transfer," and the motion needs the original certificate, an accounting of fees and charges, and physician verification (§ 9:2720.13).
8. The new birth certificate issues and the original is sealed.

Contact us and we will be straight with you about where we work.

⛔ Ivy does not accept surrogate applications from Louisiana residents. Here is what Louisiana law does and does not give you.

You cannot be paid. § 9:2720(C) bars a gestational carrier contract "for compensation," and § 9:2720.5(B)(3) lists the only permitted payments: actual medical expenses; counseling to six months after birth; lost wages only when bed rest has been prescribed for a maternal or fetal complication; travel, court costs and attorney fees; and a judicially sanctioned settlement if you die or lose reproductive capability.

⭐ What the statute does give you is unusually strong, and it is worth knowing.

• § 9:2720.2 requires the intended parents to certify that you have "sole authority with respect to medical decision-making during the term of the pregnancy, consistent with the rights of a pregnant woman carrying her own biological child."
• § 9:2720(D) makes absolutely null any clause requiring you "to consent to terminate a pregnancy," including on a prenatal diagnosis of disability, or for fetal reduction.
• The intended parents must accept custody "regardless of any impairment of the child," and must have "a valid will or succession plan."
• You must have two counseling sessions at least thirty days apart before signing, and one within six months after birth.
• § 9:2720.7 keeps the hearing closed and the records sealed.

Eligibility is fixed by statute: § 9:2720.1 — 25 to 35 years old at signing, and you must have given birth to at least one child. Both you and the intended parents must be domiciled in Louisiana for 180 days.

If someone offers you a paid Louisiana arrangement, that offer is the thing R.S. 14:286 addresses. Talk to a Louisiana attorney before you sign anything.

⛔ Ivy does not accept applications from Louisiana residents, so Ivy's criteria do not apply. Unusually, Louisiana sets its own by statute — and they are narrower than most agencies'.

§ 9:2720.1, in full: a gestational carrier shall, at the time the contract is executed, "(1) Be at least twenty-five years of age, and no older than thirty-five years of age. (2) Have given birth to at least one child."

Plus, from elsewhere in the chapter:

• 180 days' Louisiana domicile — for you and each intended parent (§ 9:2720.3).
• Two counseling sessions, at least thirty days apart, before signing, with a licensed clinical social worker, psychologist, medical psychologist, psychiatrist or counselor — and one post-birth session within six months (§ 9:2720.2).
• You must make no genetic contribution. § 9:2718.1 defines the carrier as carrying an embryo "to which she makes no genetic contribution," and § 9:2719 makes a genetic carrier contract "absolutely null."
• Your spouse signs too if you are married (§ 9:2720(A)), and certifies the relinquishment with you.
• ⛔ The intended parents must be a married couple using only their own gametes. If either uses a donor, the arrangement is outside the statute — and R.S. 14:286 is what sits outside it.

Ask a Louisiana attorney before anything medical begins, and ask specifically whether the arrangement fits the chapter.

⛔ There is no Louisiana compensation package, and this is not a matter of Ivy's policy. § 9:2720(C): "No person shall enter into a gestational carrier contract for compensation … Any such contract executed in the state of Louisiana or any other state shall be absolutely null and unenforceable in the state of Louisiana as contrary to public policy."

"Compensation" is defined broadly: § 9:2718.1(1), "money, objects, services, or anything else having monetary value," excluding only the permitted reimbursements.

Read the two lists side by side, because they are not identical. The civil approval statute § 9:2720.5(B)(3) lists five categories; the criminal disbursement provision R.S. 14:286(B)(2) lists only four and omits the judicially sanctioned settlement. ⛔ This page therefore does not treat everything permitted civilly as a criminal-law safe harbour.

The civil list (§ 9:2720.5(B)(3)):

• Actual medical expenses for prenatal care and incident to the birth
• Actual mental-health counseling expenses, before the birth and up to six months after
• Actual lost wages, but only when bed rest has been prescribed for a maternal or fetal complication and you are employed and unable to work
• Actual travel costs related to the pregnancy and delivery, court costs, and attorney fees
• A judicially sanctioned settlement or judgment for your death, loss of reproductive capability, or another complication caused by the transfer or pregnancy

And the enforcement is criminal, not merely contractual. R.S. 14:286(B)(2) makes disbursements outside that list unlawful, with (C) providing a fine up to $50,000, imprisonment with or without hard labor up to ten years, or both.

If you are offered a paid Louisiana arrangement, take that offer to a Louisiana attorney before you take it anywhere else. For what compensation looks like where Ivy works, see the compensation page.

⚠️ Ivy does not match in Louisiana, so nothing here is a recommendation for a surrogacy journey. A reader in the state may still be looking for fertility care.

We have not verified a Louisiana fertility practice for this page. Rather than repeat a directory listing, this section says so. When we list a clinic we check its own website, including the state it is in — a check this page has not completed for Louisiana.

Ask any practice directly which parts of an IVF or carrier cycle it performs, where its laboratory is, and whether it takes carrier cycles at all.

And in Louisiana the legal question comes first, not second. A transfer performed under a contract that does not comply with R.S. 9:2718 et seq. is the situation R.S. 14:286(B)(1) addresses, and the statute requires the court's Order Preceding Embryo Transfer to exist before the transfer happens. Sequence matters here in a way it does not elsewhere.

Criminal provision: R.S. 14:286(B) — unlawful to "enter into, induce, arrange, procure, knowingly advertise for, or otherwise assist in" a non-compliant contract, or any genetic carrier agreement; (C) up to $50,000 and ten years.

Enabling chapter — Title 9, Chapter 1-C: § 9:2718 (married couple, own gametes only) · § 9:2718.1 (definitions of compensation, gestational carrier, intended parents) · § 9:2719 (genetic carrier contract "absolutely null") · § 9:2720 (writing; court approval before transfer; no compensation, including contracts executed in another state; no forced-termination clause) · § 9:2720.1 (25–35, one prior birth) · § 9:2720.3 (180-day domicile; medical necessity) · § 9:2720.5 (Order Preceding Embryo Transfer; permitted reimbursements) · § 9:2720.13 (Post-Birth Order, 300 days) · § 9:2720.15 (annulment only for fraud or duress).

Birth certificates: R.S. 40:34.1(B) and § 40:34.5(C) — with an enforceable contract, the biological parents are the parents on the record. ⚠️ § 40:32(1) still defines "biological parents" by reference to a carrier "related by blood or affinity," a pre-2016 clause we located no authority reconciling with the 2016 act.

Case law: Foret v. Serrano, 2023 CW 1034 (La. App. 1 Cir. 2024), 395 So. 3d 876 — a published court-of-appeal decision from a gestational-carrier birth. ⚠️ Civil Code art. 185's marital presumption did not apply because no spouse gave birth; the writ was denied. It did not decide whether a compliant Louisiana carrier contract is enforceable, and we located no Supreme Court decision on the chapter.

For Chinese intended parents: on the Chinese Embassy's official consular-district table, Louisiana sits in the Houston consular district — but that table records the Houston consulate's work as "taken over by the Chinese Embassy." Confirm current document and appointment requirements with the Embassy before making travel plans.

Ivy: Ivy does not arrange journeys in Louisiana. Contact us. Nearby: Texas · Arkansas · Oklahoma.