Is Surrogacy Legal in Nebraska?
Surrogacy Friendly States and a Shift Towards Surrogacy-Friendly Laws.
Is Surrogacy Legal in Nebraska?
Nebraska restricts surrogacy to a very limited set of circumstances, making gestational surrogacy prohibited to the vast majority of families. Nebraska law also makes compensated surrogacy contracts void and unenforceable. The only legal surrogacy arrangements must meet these criteria:
- The intended parents must be a heterosexual married couple.
- The intended parents must provide both the egg and sperm for the embryo used in the surrogacy (i.e., no donor egg, sperm, or embryos)
- The gestational carrier (surrogate) may not receive compensation other than covering medical and related expenses (only “altruistic” arrangements are allowed)
If these criteria are met, the father will be granted a post-birth order and the mother will have to go through a stepparent adoption.
- Married Couple Friendly
Pre-Birth Order and Stepparent Adoption (under very limited circumstances)
How to Find a Surrogate in Nebraska
It is illegal to create and enforce a surrogate agreement in Nebraska. State law rules that surrogacy contracts are void and unenforceable, and they may even lead to prosecution and criminal charges for participants. For this reason, we do not recommend that intended parents pursue surrogacy in Nebraska. We also do not accept applications from surrogate candidates who live in Nebraska.
Why Do People Use Surrogates?
In surrogacy-friendly states, people choose to become parents through surrogacy for many different reasons. At the core, intended parents using surrogacy are unable to carry and deliver a baby on their own. This could be because of a health reason. For instance, a woman might have healthy eggs, but not be able to carry a pregnancy for medical reasons. In this case, she could have her eggs retrieved, fertilized with her partner’s sperm, and then transferred to a surrogate who can safely carry and deliver a baby. In this way, both intended parents can still have a biological child. On the other hand, surrogacy also provides a path to fatherhood for single intended fathers and same-sex male couples, who can fertilize donor eggs with their sperm and transfer the resulting embryo to a surrogate.
In Nebraska, any intended parent who would need to use a donor egg, sperm, or embryo as part of their surrogacy cannot pursue a surrogacy arrangement. This makes any surrogate agreements involving LGBTQ+, single, or unmarried intended parents legally unenforceable in Nebraska and they may, in fact, be open to prosecution.
Given the extra hurdles, restrictions, and potential for legal consequences, we do not advise intended parents to pursue surrogacy in Nebraska. Instead, we work with surrogate candidates in neighboring states, which may be an option for intended parents who live in Nebraska.
How Can Intended Parents in Nebraska Work with a Surrogacy Agency?
We have found the safest and most reliable surrogacy journey for Nebraska intended parents involves working with a surrogate and surrogacy agency based in a more surrogacy-friendly state. Eggceptional Fertility has worked with surrogates in Kansas Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, and other states in the Midwest since our start in 2008. We have created an extended community of intended parents, surrogates, and donors to form our Eggceptional family, all brought together by our shared desire to help build family legacies and change lives.
We have worked with Nebraska intended parents to match with surrogates in neighboring states and coordinate care. This does involve some extra logistics, including travel arrangements, insurance coordination, and finding the right fertility clinic in the surrogate’s home state. We absolutely recommend that all Nebraska intended parents interested in surrogacy consult a local surrogacy law expert to prevent any issues with their out-of-state surrogacy being recognized in Nebraska. We can help refer you to an assisted reproductive law specialist near you.
We believe everyone deserves the chance to build a family. We are happy to work with intended parents across the country (and the world!) to find a path to parenthood. If you live in Nebraska and would like to find a surrogate, don’t lose hope. Your journey may involve a few more steps, but we can help you navigate each of them. It all starts with a free consultation: schedule your initial consultation today.
