Southern Surrogacy specializes in helping surrogates in Alabama with couples or individuals looking for the right person to help with their family planning journey. We recognize how important relationship-building is to surrogates and intended parents (IPs). To foster these connections, we focus on regional matching. Meeting our team in person helps to make the surrogacy matching process as effortless as possible. We provide surrogacy services throughout Alabama, including Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville, Auburn, and beyond.
Welcome to Southern Surrogacy in Alabama
At Southern Surrogacy, we serve the Southern community. Throughout the entire surrogacy process, from the application stage to the delivery of the baby, our friendly, knowledgeable professionals assist IPs in finding well-qualified surrogates. IPs and surrogates can rely on us for support, answers to their questions, and assistance with any obstacles they may encounter.
Gestational Surrogacy, Explained
A gestational surrogate becomes pregnant via a medical procedure called in-vitro fertilization (IVF); this involves fertilizing either the IP’s egg or a donor egg in a lab with sperm from the intended father or a sperm donor. Next, the resulting embryo is transferred to the surrogate’s uterus. This differs from traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate not only carries the pregnancy but also provides the egg that is used to create the embryo. Southern Surrogacy only works with gestational surrogacy arrangements.
The Surrogacy Process in Alabama
For Intended Parents
For IPs, the surrogacy process in Alabama includes:
- Learning about surrogacy, medical procedures, the matching process, and more
- Creating a profile to allow potential surrogates to get to know you
- Reviewing prospective surrogate profiles
- Engaging in a match meeting to learn about potential candidates and hopefully find a surrogate who meets your needs
- Meeting with a surrogacy attorney to learn about the Alabama-specific laws that govern the surrogacy process
- Signing a surrogacy contract
- Establishing legal parentage with a pre-birth order
- Creating a birth plan to prepare for your baby’s birth
- Taking your new baby home
For Surrogates
Surrogates go through some of the same steps as IPs during the surrogacy process, but some steps, such as specific medical procedures, are unique to the surrogate. Steps in the process for surrogates include:
- Applying to become a surrogate and passing the first round of screenings
- Creating a profile for IPs to learn more about you
- Getting acquainted with potential IPs by participating in a match meeting
- Selecting the IP/s you want to work with (the selection process must be approved by both the IP/s and the surrogate candidates)
- Undergoing required medical and mental health screenings
- Meeting with an Alabama licensed surrogacy attorney to learn about the legalities involved in the surrogacy process
- Signing a surrogacy contract
- Taking hormonal medicine injections to prepare your body for pregnancy
- Undergoing the necessary medical procedures such as the embryo transfer
- Taking blood and ultrasound tests for pregnancy confirmation
- Visiting your OB/GYN for regular pregnancy exams
- Giving birth and working with the IPs to follow their birth plan
Surrogacy Laws in Alabama
There are no state regulations in Alabama that prohibit or govern surrogacy or surrogacy contracts/agreements. Therefore, surrogacy professionals, such as Alabama licensed attorneys, have developed a process that protects all parties involved in states where surrogacy is legal but not strictly regulated by statutes.
The Surrogate Matching Process
Selecting the right surrogate is one of the most important aspects of successful surrogacy in Alabama. Southern Surrogacy specializes in matching you with a surrogate who best meets your needs. The surrogacy/IP relationship is personal; identifying and building that relationship involves a matching process that is equally personal to surrogates and their IPs. The matching process includes:
- Identifying your surrogacy goals and the type of surrogate you want to work with
- Creating a profile for surrogate candidates to get to know you
- Reviewing gestational surrogate candidate profiles
- Meeting the surrogate to discuss important issues such as values, goals, and expectations for the surrogacy experience
Legal Aspects of Surrogacy
Legalities are a crucial part of the surrogacy process. In most cases, the legal work is done before the baby is born, which ensures very few unforeseen events. Southern Surrogacy assists our IPs in obtaining a pre-birth order to establish legal parentage of the child before birth. The pre-birth order ensures that IPs can make medical decisions, take the child home after birth, and more.
The surrogacy contract/agreement is created and negotiated between local Alabama surrogacy attorneys. It’s important that the IPs and surrogates each have separate legal representation, namely, an experienced surrogacy attorney licensed in Alabama.
Medical Procedures in Surrogacy
The surrogacy process involves several specific medical procedures such as:
- Hormonal injections – self-injections to help the surrogate prepare the body for pregnancy
- Egg retrieval – a medical procedure performed by a fertility specialist, involving the removal of the eggs from the IP or an egg donor for fertilization
- IVF – a type of advanced reproductive technology (ART) involving fertilization of the egg by introducing sperm into a petri dish in a lab
- Embryo transfer – transferring the embryo to the surrogate’s uterus for implantation after fertilization
- Medical support and monitoring – including pregnancy testing and ultrasounds to confirm pregnancy
Birth and Transfer
The surrogate usually gives birth at a birthing center where the attending OB/GYN doctor has privileges. Immediately after the baby’s birth, there is time set aside for the IPs to bond with the baby; this often includes skin-to-skin contact. The pre-birth order, which has already been established during the legal process of the surrogacy journey, will enable the intended parent/s to take legal custody of the baby immediately after birth.
Becoming a Surrogate in Alabama
Being a surrogate in Alabama is a substantial commitment, but it has many benefits, including helping someone who is struggling to have a child or build a family. One of the major advantages of being a surrogate is our generous surrogate compensation. Another advantage of working with Southern Surrogacy is that it’s a program where you can get support from agency staff and mentors face-to-face and get matched with local IPs who can be involved in your pregnancy.
The learning process includes becoming educated on the legalities of the surrogacy process and the qualifications and steps involved. It is critical for you as a surrogate to have your own legal counsel in the state in which you reside.
Surrogate Requirements in Alabama
The basic requirements for becoming a surrogate in Alabama include:
- You must be between the ages of 21 to 45
- You have had a previous healthy pregnancy
- You are raising your own child in your home
- You are tobacco-and drug-free
- You have a healthy BMI
- You can travel for any out-of-the-area surrogacy appointments
- Other requirements
Learn more about the specific requirements for surrogates in Alabama here.
Surrogate Compensation and Pay in Alabama
At Southern Surrogacy, we empower surrogates to determine their own needs as they help an individual or couple struggling to have a baby. Take advantage of full, ongoing support from our surrogate mentors and set your own compensation rate. In exchange for your commitment, dedication, and sacrifice, there are three types of surrogate pay, usually totaling between $40,000 to $60,000, the types of pay include:
- Competitive base compensation
- Additional payments based on the course of the pregnancy
- Coverage of all surrogacy services and reimbursement for any expenses incurred during the process
Learn more about compensation for Southern Surrogacy surrogates in Alabama here.
Become a Surrogate in Alabama
After your initial questionnaire is approved, indicating you meet our basic surrogate requirements, we will send you a longer form with more detailed questions to answer. This form includes information about your medical history. Once you meet the preliminary requirements (based on your answers to our medical questionnaire), you will move on to the next phase of our qualifications/screening process, including:
- Providing medical records from previous pregnancies
- Submitting your insurance information
- Attending an in-office meeting
- Complete authorization forms
- Reviewing our gestational surrogacy agreement
- Undergoing a background check
- Having an in-home visit
Once you have satisfied Southern Surrogacy’s preliminary screening requirements, you are ready to be matched with hopeful intended parents. However, there is one final step once you are matched with the IP/s, which is completing and passing a physical and psychological evaluation.
Start your surrogacy application process here.
Finding a Surrogate in Alabama
At Southern Surrogacy, we strive to provide personalized matching services to ensure a successful surrogacy experience. You can feel at ease in selecting the surrogacy agency you feel comfortable with through interviews and learning what the agency offers. At Southern Surrogacy, an initial consultation is arranged so IPs and surrogates can get to know us and learn whether we are the right agency for them. Learn more about how we can help you find the surrogate who most closely meets your family planning needs.
Working with Southern Surrogacy in Alabama
As a full-service surrogacy agency, we are here to walk surrogates and intended parents through the entire surrogacy process, step-by-step. We will match IPs with a surrogate near you to foster in-person relationship building.
Start Your Surrogacy Journey in Alabama
Working with a locally-based surrogacy agency in Alabama can help you maximize your potential for finding the perfect surrogate for you and your family while simplifying the process from A to Z. Complete our online meeting request form to schedule a free 30-minute consultation here.