If an intended parent asks their surrogate to be induced or have a cesarean that is not medically necessary, is she be obligated to do so?

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Hey, everyone, this is Jennifer White, CEO of Bright Futures Families Surrogacy, with this week's Ask Question, which is: If the intended parent asks a gestational carrier to either be induced or to have a cesarean section for their convenience, not out of medical necessity, is she obligated to do so.

And the answer is, in some states, absolutely. She has full autonomy over her body and gets to make all medical decisions. So there's no way that she could be forced to do so or obligated to do so. In other states, it's either silent or doesn't say anything about that. So it could be that they agreed to something in their contract and she could be. But most attorneys put in their agreements that a gestational carrier has full bodily autonomy over the birthing process and procedures. So that means that she can't be obligated to undergo induction if she's not ready to do so or she is not, for just convenience to undergo a cesarean section. Likewise, the other side of that is that the gestational carrier, if she elects to have a cesarean section for convenience sake as opposed to medical necessity, it might be, depending on how that contract is written, that the parents are not obligated to pay any extra compensation for that because it wasn't deemed to be medically necessary that she underwent that. So really, I say lean back on your legal contract and if it's something that you're concerned about going into it, that you're very worried as a gestational carrier, that parents might force you or push you into that, discuss it with your attorneys and make sure that the language in your legal agreement before you sign it is extremely clear as to how you feel about birthing preferences and having those rights over your body. Again, some states, it's actually in the law that a surrogate gets to make all of those decisions, so you have less of a concern there. But for those that don't, just make sure that you talk to your attorney and let them know about your concerns and that you want to make sure everything is really clear, and then it should be, and then you won't be under any obligation to do anything you don't want to. So I hope that helps.