Surrogacy in Mississippi: The Complete 2026 Guide

⭐ Mississippi has no surrogacy statute, and it prohibits surrogacy nowhere. No void-contract rule, no compensation bar, no licensing regime. That is genuinely different from most restrictive states.

⛔ But two things a careful reader needs are easy to miss.

First, there is a route — just not a surrogacy one. § 41-57-23(1)(e) authorizes a chancery proceeding "to … make any changes or additions to a birth certificate resulting from a legitimation, filiation or any changes not specifically authorized elsewhere by statute," with the State Board of Health as respondent, which "shall comply with all of the provisions of such decree."

Second, there is a criminal statute. § 97-3-52: "Selling, buying, offering to sell and offering to buy a child or an unborn child is prohibited," punishable by up to $20,000 and ten years. Its only carve-out is payment "to an entity licensed for child placing" or as authorized under § 43-15-117. We located no Mississippi decision applying it to carrier compensation — but no page should tell you Mississippi has no criminal provision.

What is still missing is anything surrogacy-specific: the Uniform Law on Paternity has zero maternity provisions, no published decision addresses a carrier, and SB 2447 (2026) died in committee.

Ivy does not arrange journeys in Mississippi.

Mississippi has no surrogacy statute at all, so its framework is what its general law does and does not contain.

No maternity action

Title 93, Chapter 9 is headed "Parentage" — ⚠️ and the heading is misleading. The chapter contains exactly two articles: the Uniform Law on Paternity (§§ 93-9-1 to 93-9-49) and Death of Mother or Child (§§ 93-9-71 to 93-9-75).

Its section headings are, without exception, paternity headings: "Obligations of father" · "Disestablishment of paternity" · "Limitation on recovery from father" · "Blood tests and other tests" · "Procedures for voluntary acknowledgement of paternity" · "Support by mother" · "Full faith and credit to foreign paternity determinations."

Searching the article returns zero hits for "maternity" and zero for "surrogate." No Mississippi statute provides an action to determine, establish or disestablish a mother-child relationship.

⭐ That is not the same as no route at all, and the distinction matters. § 41-57-23(1)(e) authorizes a chancery proceeding "to … make any changes or additions to a birth certificate resulting from a legitimation, filiation or any changes not specifically authorized elsewhere by statute," with the State Board of Health as respondent, which on a certified decree "shall comply with all of the provisions of such decree." It is a general vital-records mechanism, not a carrier procedure, and we located no decision applying it to a gestational carrier.

⛔ And there is a criminal statute outside Title 93. § 97-3-52: "Selling, buying, offering to sell and offering to buy a child or an unborn child is prohibited," up to $20,000 and ten years, carved out only for payment "to an entity licensed for child placing" or as authorized under § 43-15-117. No reported Mississippi decision applies it to carrier compensation — but it is not nothing, and counsel must address it.

Nothing at the registrar either

Title 41, Chapter 57, the entire births-and-deaths article (§§ 41-57-3 to 41-57-31): zero hits for "surrogate." The adoption chapter and the termination-of-parental-rights chapter: zero as well.

What Mississippi's courts have said about assisted reproduction

There is no published Mississippi decision on a gestational carrier — a CourtListener sweep of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals returned 0 for "gestational carrier," and the "surrogate mother" hits are 1998 and 2001 divorce cases.

But there is one governing assisted-reproduction decision. Strickland v. Day, 239 So. 3d 486 (Miss. 2018), involved a married couple and anonymous donor insemination. Verbatim: "First, an anonymous sperm donor is not a legal parent whose rights must be terminated. And second, the doctrine of equitable estoppel precludes Kimberly from challenging Christina's legal parentage of Z.S."

Two things follow, and only two. A gamete donor is not a legal parent whose rights need terminating in Mississippi, and the Supreme Court will reach for equitable doctrines in assisted-reproduction parentage. It supplies no procedure and says nothing about a carrier. Do not read it as a surrogacy holding.

SB 2447 (2026) — what was proposed, and what happened

"Mississippi Family Building Act; enact." Referred to Judiciary, Division A on 19 January 2026. Status, verbatim from the Legislature's own bill-status record: "02/03 (S) Died In Committee."

From the bill's long title, it would have: applied "only to a gestational carrier or gestational surrogate who is not the biological mother of the child"; provided that an egg, sperm or embryo donor "shall relinquish all parental rights and obligations"; permitted "reasonable compensation directly related to the donation of eggs, sperm and embryos"; allowed a gestational carrier agreement and prescribed terms that must be included; and required "a judicial determination of parentage before the birth of a child conceived by assisted reproductive technology under a gestational carrier agreement."

Read that list as a description of what Mississippi law currently lacks. It died in committee. It was not rejected on the floor, and it may return — but it is not law.

General information, not legal advice.

⛔ Ivy does not arrange journeys in Mississippi — that is about where a journey is placed, not about where you live. An intended parent living in Mississippi can pursue a journey in a state where we do work. The constraint here is local, and the reason is the absence of a route rather than the presence of a ban.

Start with what is genuinely favorable. Mississippi has no surrogacy statute, no void-contract rule and no compensation bar, and nothing makes a carrier arrangement unlawful as such. ⚠️ One caveat belongs in the same breath: § 97-3-52 makes selling or buying "a child or an unborn child" a crime, carved out only for payments to a licensed child-placing entity. We located no Mississippi decision applying it to carrier compensation.

Now the gap. Mississippi's parentage chapter is the Uniform Law on Paternity — paternity only, with zero references to maternity. No statute establishes an intended mother as a parent. What does exist is a general birth-certificate route: § 41-57-23(1)(e) lets a chancery court order changes or additions to a certificate arising from a filiation or a change not authorized elsewhere, and the Board of Health "shall comply with all of the provisions of such decree." It is not carrier-specific and no decision applies it here.

And there is no case law to work from. We located no published Mississippi decision addressing a gestational carrier arrangement.

The one decision that does bear on assisted reproduction helps, but only partly. Strickland v. Day (Miss. 2018) holds that "an anonymous sperm donor is not a legal parent whose rights must be terminated," and applies equitable estoppel to protect a spouse's parentage. That is a donor rule and an equitable doctrine — not a parentage procedure.

The clearest evidence of the gap is Mississippi's own 2026 bill. SB 2447 would have required "a judicial determination of parentage before the birth" under a gestational carrier agreement. It died in committee on 3 February 2026.

Ask a Mississippi attorney what order they would seek, on what statutory basis, and in which chancery court — and get the answer in writing. Contact us and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do.

⛔ There is no Ivy price for Mississippi, because Ivy does not place journeys here.

The usual cost drivers are not banned here. We located no Mississippi statute capping compensation, requiring escrow, licensing agencies or penalizing payment. Nothing in Mississippi law makes a normal cost structure unlawful.

⚠️ What is missing is the thing your money would be buying certainty about. With no surrogacy statute, a paternity-only parentage chapter and no published Mississippi decision on a gestational carrier, the parentage outcome is the open question — and no budget line closes it.

So the honest cost picture here is: ordinary expenses, extraordinary legal uncertainty. Expect more attorney hours than in a statute state, and expect part of that work to be building an argument rather than following a procedure.

Budget for the possibility of adoption as a fallback, and ask your attorney to price that path before you commit to anything medical.

And note what the state itself said this year. SB 2447 would have required a pre-birth judicial determination of parentage; it died in committee on 3 February 2026, so the uncertainty you are pricing is current.

For what a journey costs where Ivy works, see intended parents or contact us.

⛔ There is no Ivy process to describe in Mississippi, because Ivy does not match here. What a reader needs is the list of questions a Mississippi attorney has to answer without a statute to answer them from.

1. Confirm what is not in the way. No Mississippi statute prohibits surrogacy, voids the agreement, caps compensation or penalizes anyone. Start from that, honestly.
2. Then confirm what is missing. The Uniform Law on Paternity is paternity only — zero maternity provisions — and Title 41, Chapter 57 contains zero references to a surrogate birth.
3. Ask what order will be sought and on what basis. With no statute and no published Mississippi decision on a carrier, the answer has to come from chancery practice, and it should come in writing from counsel rather than from an agency.
4. Ask specifically how the carrier comes off the birth record, and what happens if the hospital or the registrar asks for authority the attorney cannot point to.
5. Ask whether adoption is the fallback, and if so, on what timetable.
6. ⭐ Know the one decision that exists. Strickland v. Day (Miss. 2018): "an anonymous sperm donor is not a legal parent whose rights must be terminated," with equitable estoppel applied to protect a spouse's parentage.
7. And know that Mississippi tried to close the gap this year and did not. SB 2447 died in committee on 3 February 2026.

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

⛔ Ivy does not accept surrogate applications from Mississippi residents. Here is what Mississippi law does and does not say about you.

Nothing makes you a criminal, and nothing makes the arrangement unlawful. We located no Mississippi statute prohibiting surrogacy, voiding a surrogacy agreement, capping compensation or penalizing anyone involved. That is a real difference from several nearby states.

But the same silence means nothing protects you either. We located no escrow requirement, no independent-counsel requirement, no written-agreement requirement, no medical-decision provision and no eligibility rules. Whatever your agreement says is the whole of it — and no Mississippi court has ever ruled on whether such an agreement is enforceable.

The question to press hardest is how your name comes off the record. Mississippi's parentage chapter is the Uniform Law on Paternity — paternity only, with zero maternity provisions. No statute displaces a birth mother. ⭐ § 41-57-23(1)(e) does let a chancery court order a birth-certificate change on a filiation, but it is not carrier-specific and no decision applies it to an arrangement like yours.

And the state's own legislature agrees the gap exists. SB 2447 (2026) would have required "a judicial determination of parentage before the birth" in these arrangements; it died in committee on 3 February 2026.

One decision is worth knowing. Strickland v. Day (Miss. 2018) holds that "an anonymous sperm donor is not a legal parent whose rights must be terminated." It concerns donors, not carriers — but it shows the Mississippi Supreme Court engaging with assisted reproduction rather than avoiding it.

If you are being recruited for a Mississippi arrangement, take the agreement to a Mississippi attorney before you sign it.

⛔ Ivy does not accept applications from Mississippi residents, so Ivy's criteria do not apply here.

And no Mississippi statute sets any. We located no minimum age, no prior-birth requirement, no BMI limit, no screening protocol, no counseling requirement, no independent-counsel rule and no residency rule for a surrogate. The Uniform Law on Paternity does not address surrogacy, and Title 41, Chapter 57 does not either.

Contrast that with what was on the table this year. SB 2447 (2026) would have prescribed "terms that must be included" in a gestational carrier agreement and required a pre-birth judicial determination of parentage. ⛔ It died in committee on 3 February 2026, so none of those protections exist.

The requirement that should worry you most is the one nobody can state. With no maternity action in Mississippi law and no published decision on a carrier arrangement, there is no settled answer to how you stop being the child's legal mother.

Ask that question first, ask it of a Mississippi attorney, and ask for the answer in writing — before anything medical begins and before you sign.

⛔ There is no Ivy compensation package for Mississippi, because Ivy does not match here.

Mississippi does not regulate surrogate compensation at all. We located no cap, no ban, no escrow rule and no published decision on payment to a carrier. Unlike Louisiana or Nebraska, payment is not what creates the problem in Mississippi.

⛔ The problem is that nothing has been tested. No Mississippi statute says a surrogacy agreement is enforceable, and no Mississippi appellate decision has ever considered one. A payment schedule is only as good as the agreement carrying it, and here that agreement sits on untested ground.

Nothing requires your money to be held safely. Several states require compensation to sit with an independent escrow agent before medication starts. We located no such rule in Mississippi. Ivy uses an independently administered escrow account everywhere it works, because the practice protects the surrogate, not because a statute demands it.

Two further gaps your agreement would have to fill: we located no Mississippi provision requiring intended parents to maintain or pay for your health coverage, and none addressing complications or postpartum care.

Before you rely on any Mississippi payment schedule, have a Mississippi attorney tell you in writing what happens if the other side stops paying. For what compensation looks like where Ivy works, see the compensation page.

⚠️ Ivy does not match in Mississippi, 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi.

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

And keep the two questions apart, because in Mississippi they diverge sharply. A clinic may be entirely willing to perform a transfer, and Mississippi law will still supply no maternity action, no surrogacy statute and no published decision on how parentage is resolved afterward. A willing clinic is not a parentage plan.

Parentage: Miss. Code Title 93, ch. 9, Uniform Law on Paternity, §§ 93-9-1 to 93-9-49. ⛔ Paternity only — the article returns zero hits for "maternity" and zero for "surrogate," and no statute provides an action to determine a mother-child relationship.

Birth certificate route: § 41-57-23(1)(e) — a chancery proceeding for changes or additions "resulting from a legitimation, filiation or any changes not specifically authorized elsewhere by statute," State Board of Health as respondent, which "shall comply" with a certified decree.

Criminal: § 97-3-52 — selling or buying "a child or an unborn child," up to $20,000 and ten years; carve-out only for a licensed child-placing entity or § 43-15-117.

Vital statistics: Title 41, ch. 57, Births and Deaths, §§ 41-57-3 to 41-57-31 — zero hits for "surrogate." The Mississippi State Department of Health's Vital Records pages return none either, and publish no surrogate-birth form or fee.

Legislation: SB 2447 (2026), "Mississippi Family Building Act" — would have defined a gestational carrier, settled donor relinquishment, permitted donation compensation, prescribed required contract terms and required "a judicial determination of parentage before the birth." Referred 19 January 2026; "02/03 (S) Died In Committee."

Case law: We located no published Mississippi decision on a gestational carrier arrangement. ⭐ Strickland v. Day, 239 So. 3d 486 (Miss. 2018): "an anonymous sperm donor is not a legal parent whose rights must be terminated," and equitable estoppel precluded a challenge to a spouse's parentage.

For Chinese intended parents: on the Chinese Embassy's official consular-district table, Mississippi 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 Mississippi. Contact us. Nearby: Tennessee · Arkansas · Florida.