On May 30, 2018, a surrogacy bill was signed into law by our now current governor, Phil Murphy. Gestational surrogacy has never been illegal in New Jersey but the statute will now afford a greater protection for the parties involved in a surrogacy arrangement when the Gestational Carrier resides in New Jersey. As an Agency, we have always worked with New Jersey candidates when other Agencies or attorneys would not accept their applications. Our legal referral team drafted Legal Agreements that were extremely inclusive and fair to both the IP family and the Gestational Carrier family. But now there is a clear protection for everyone. This is a very exciting time for New Jersey and Surrogacy!
On April 12, 2018, a surrogacy bill passed the Senate and House and is now awaiting signing or a veto from our now current governor, Phil Murphy. He has not vetoed as yet so even if he doesn’t sign the bill it will automatically become law provided he does not Veto the Surrogacy Bill. That drop date is this week as its 45 days from the time it passed the Senate and House. Gestational surrogacy has never been illegal in New Jersey. Prior to this pending surrogacy Bill, it could be determined that the contract is unenforceable but there are many States with that issue and this Surrogacy Bill will just make surrogacy more clear in New Jersey. Traditional Surrogacy will still be deemed illegal in New Jersey.
Once this Bill is enacted, upon entering a surrogacy Agreement, the gestational carrier is required to immediately relinquish all parental rights to the child. It will not be necessary for a 3-day relinquishment as the Surrogacy Bill will cover this relinquishment. Since there will be requirements for all parties to be legally represented and to have psychological evaluations and other requirements as well A Woman’s Gift will assist with all aspects every step of the way as necessary if the Parties are in New Jersey. A Woman’s Gift has been a New Jersey surrogacy expert for 18 years and will continue to manage surrogacy in New Jersey with a new frame of reference. With our legal team of experts, we now feel that everyone is more protected and the parentage process will be extremely easy and streamlined. It’s an exciting time for New Jersey and surrogacy for sure!!
Let’s explore the Gestational Carrier Process through the eyes of an actual carrier. I originally started my journey as a gestational carrier in November of 2015. That’s when I found A Woman’s Gift and initially spoke with Julie who was one of their Gestational carrier coordinators. After speaking with Julie, I continued the application process and then spoke with Fran who is the Agency owner and clinical director. The agency has a two step application process. The first in which you have to meet certain criteria to be gestational surrogate.
You also have to understand that the child/children is/are not yours. This process can also take a very long time from application to delivery. My journey was almost 2 years from start to finish as my first couple changed their mind after over being matched for over 6 months. But some can go very fast especially if you are located in New Jersey. After going through the initial screening of whether you meet the requirements, our agency sends you an email with a password so that you can make a profile on our site. Once your profile is completed, you’re then visible on our website to the intended parents (IPs) that are seeking a surrogate. I matched very quickly, maybe a month. Local surrogates tend to match quicker in most cases.
In December of 2015 I was chosen by a couple. I’m going to refer to them as R and K. K had a son from a previous marriage and presently was engaged to R. We hit it off really well the first time we met. He was a jazz musician and she was a student and finishing up her degree. What brought them to getting a surrogate was that they had tried on their own to have children, but K had two late term miscarriages. At the end of our first meeting, she told me that she had just found out that she was pregnant again, but based on her history with the previous pregnancies, she wasn’t confident that she would be able to carry this baby to term. K asked if i would carry one of their embryos for them, and I agreed.
My name is Emmy and I was a New Jersey gestational carrier. Here’s a little info about myself. I am 27 years old, married with two daughters, and I recently delivered twins as a gestational carrier for another family. I feel like I’ve always known that I wanted to carry for someone else, so after having my second child and knowing I didn’t want any more, I decided that it was time. This is actually a requirement for being a surrogate, but I’ll elaborate more on that later.
I wanted to share my journey and what it was like to do this so that others will know what to expect if they would like to do the same, or if they’re just curious about what all this process involves. I also live in New Jersey, which there seems to be a misconception about surrogacy being illegal here. To be fair, traditional surrogacy is illegal. Traditional surrogacy is when the carrier’s egg is used with the sperm of the intended father, or sperm donor if one is needed. In my case I was a gestational carrier. We used sperm from each father (same sex couple) along with eggs from an egg donor. This means that the babies were in no way genetically related to me. This also means that the twins were technically half siblings.
Being a New Jersey gestational carrier that is compensated is completely legal. There was misinformation given to me in the beginning of my research from agencies in other states. About a year later, I decided to research it again which is what led me to A Woman’s Gift to begin my journey.
Welcome to A Woman’s Gift Surrogacy Blog! We would like to introduce you to our fertility assistance process as well as some of the finer details. We are an agency that helps infertile people have children using egg donors, gestational carriers, or both. We are a full-service company that will help you through the selection process, medical and psychological portion, legal process, all appointments, financial matters related to your Gestational carrier or egg donor and any travel arrangements just to name a few.
We work closely with your infertility clinic or will help you choose a clinic that would work well for your situation so that you can achieve your dream of having a child. If you are new to the field of infertility and want some introductory information, you can find that on our home page and FAQ page. Here in our blog, we are going to be talking more about some misconceptions about the process and getting some firsthand experiences from parents and surrogates that have been through this process or are going through it now. Hopefully, you can get a clearer picture of what to expect when it comes to the infertility journey with a Gestational carrier or Egg donor. Whether you are totally new to this process or you are experienced, we hope to help with valuable information.
First you will be hearing from a previous surrogate of ours. She has recently decided to come work for us here at A Woman’s Gift also. She will be telling you about her experiences and opinions on the entire process. We hope that these posts will be helpful to some of you and if there are any suggestions on specific topics that you would like to hear about please let us know! You can contact our office any time during our business hours or directly on the form on our contact us page.