How to Become a Surrogate in Kansas
Surrogacy is legal in Kansas and happens regularly here — but Kansas is the one state in the region where the law is genuinely argued about. Two Attorney General opinions have said surrogacy contracts are unenforceable, a bill to criminalise them failed a decade ago, and courts grant parentage orders anyway. Here’s what that actually means for you as a Kansan considering becoming a surrogate.
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Do you qualify to be a surrogate in Kansas?
Kansas has no statutory requirements at all — not for surrogates, not for intended parents, not for the contract. Everything below is set by agencies and fertility clinics following ASRM guidance. Nothing on this list is Kansas law, and you should be sceptical of any page that says otherwise.
The non-negotiables:
- You’ve given birth to at least one healthy child, full-term, and you’re raising that child. No programme waives this.
- You’re between 21 and 45, with most Kansas programmes preferring 21–40.
- No nicotine — cigarettes, vapes, pouches, patches. Typically 6–12 months clear, and expect a test.
- No drug use, in your household as well as by you.
- You’ll pass medical screening, a psychological evaluation and a background check — and so will your partner.
- You’re a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
More flexible than you’d expect:
- BMI. Most clinics want 19–32, some to 35. A few points over usually means “let’s get you there,” not “no.”
- C-sections. Two is standard, three often workable. How you healed matters more than the count.
- Tubal ligation. Irrelevant — embryo transfer bypasses your tubes.
- Endometriosis. Usually fine. It affects conceiving, not carrying.
- HSV-2. Not disqualifying at most programmes.
- Hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s. Usually fine if well controlled with TSH in range.
- Single, unmarried, or LGBTQ+. Doesn’t affect eligibility. If you’re married, your spouse signs the agreement.
Raise these early:
- A history of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). Recurs often and carries real risk; most programmes decline or require maternal–fetal medicine clearance.
- Preeclampsia or HELLP previously. Depends on severity and timing.
- Antidepressants or other psychotropic medication. Policies vary. Ask before applying; don’t stop medication to qualify.
- Gestational diabetes. Diet-controlled and resolved, usually fine.
- Still breastfeeding. Fully weaned, typically 2–3 months before medication.
| Requirement | Typical Kansas standard | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 21–45, most prefer 21–40 | Agency / clinic — not law |
| Prior birth | One or more, full-term | Agency / clinic — not law |
| BMI | 19–32, some to 35 | Clinic |
| C-sections | Usually up to 2–3 | Clinic |
| Nicotine | None, 6–12 months | Agency / clinic |
| Your own attorney | Strongly recommended | Not required by Kansas law — see below |
| Kansas residency | Not required | Nobody — this is a myth |
Unsure whether a past complication, your BMI, or a third C-section rules you out? The questionnaire covers all of it.
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Is surrogacy legal in Kansas?
Yes — but Kansas is the one state in the region where that answer comes with a genuine argument attached.
No Kansas statute permits surrogacy and no Kansas statute prohibits it. There’s no published Kansas case law on it either. It’s legal by default, and it’s practised in Wichita, Overland Park, Topeka and the Kansas City metro.
But two things sit alongside that, and you should know about both.
Two Attorney General opinions say your contract may be unenforceable
The Kansas Attorney General’s office has issued two opinions arguing that surrogate parenting contracts are void as against public policy.
The important qualifier: Attorney General opinions are advisory. They are not law. They don’t bind a court, and no Kansas court has adopted their reasoning. In practice Kansas judges have continued to grant parentage orders in surrogacy cases for years.
But it does mean Kansas is a different kind of uncertain from its neighbours. In Missouri there’s simply no authority either way. In Kansas there is authority, and it points against enforceability — it just isn’t binding. Nobody has tested it.
A bill to criminalise surrogacy was introduced and failed
In 2014, Senate Bill 302 would have declared surrogate parenting contracts against public policy and void, and imposed criminal penalties on the parties involved. It was heard by the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee in January 2014 and did not pass. Opponents included Kansas parents of children born through surrogacy.
We mention it because you may come across the arguments made for it. The bill’s supporters argued that surrogacy exploits women in financial need and treats children as commodities. Those are serious arguments and you’re entitled to weigh them. The counter-argument, made by the Kansas families who opposed the bill, is that women capable of deciding to carry a pregnancy are capable of deciding to carry one for somebody else, and that good screening, independent legal advice and proper compensation are what prevent exploitation — not prohibition.
We have a commercial interest here and you should read us accordingly. But we’d rather you met that debate on a page that tells you it exists than found it somewhere else and wondered why we hadn’t mentioned it.
What this means practically
Three things follow, and they matter more in Kansas than anywhere else on this site.
1. Insist on your own attorney. Kansas law does not require you to have independent legal representation. Michigan and Illinois both make it a statutory condition of a valid agreement; Kansas makes it nothing at all. Many Kansas judges expect it and the professional bodies recommend it, but no statute protects you. Never sign a Kansas surrogacy agreement reviewed only by the intended parents’ lawyer, and expect the intended parents to pay for yours — that’s standard practice even though it isn’t required.
2. Escrow is not optional. Because enforceability is genuinely uncertain here, you do not want to be in a position where recovering your compensation means being the test case. Your full fee should be deposited with an independent escrow company before you start medication. Ask for written confirmation.
3. Ask which county. Kansas courts generally grant pre-birth parentage orders where at least one intended parent is genetically related to the child, but availability varies by county and by judge. A hearing is required; usually only the attorneys need attend. Your lawyer should be able to tell you which court will hear it and what that judge typically does.
One further Kansas-specific point. If you’re in the Kansas City metro, the state line runs through it — and Kansas and Missouri handle parentage very differently. Missouri cannot issue pre-birth orders at all. Where you deliver determines which state’s rules apply, so if you live in Kansas but your clinic or your nearest hospital is on the Missouri side, raise it early. It’s the kind of detail that’s easy to sort out in month four and painful in month nine.
Non-genetic intended parents generally need a stepparent or second-parent adoption after the birth to be added to the certificate. That’s their process rather than yours, but it lengthens the timeline.
Traditional surrogacy — using your own egg — is possible in Kansas but considerably riskier. Compensation is limited to what the adoption statutes allow, and a traditional surrogate cannot be compelled to give up her parental rights. Agencies don’t do it and you shouldn’t consider it.
Kansas has more moving parts than most states. That’s exactly what we’re here to walk you through.
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What surrogates are paid in Kansas
Kansas places no limits on what a gestational surrogate can be paid. Compensation is whatever the contract sets, and it’s set by the agency and intended parents rather than by anything specific to Kansas.
First-time surrogates: $65,000+ total. Experienced surrogates: $75,000+ total.
That splits into two parts — your surrogate compensation, and your expenses.
Your compensation: a sample of $50,500
Applying to become a surrogate through SurroAdvisor lets you choose your fee structure rather than getting handed a fixed number, so this is a representative schedule rather than a quote. What’s unusual — and worth paying attention to — is that we publish when each payment lands, which almost no nobody else does.
| When you’re paid | Amount |
|---|---|
| At match | $1,250 |
| At medical clearance | $500 |
| At legal clearance | $1,000 |
| When you start medication | $500 |
| At embryo transfer | $1,000 |
| At hCG pregnancy confirmation | $1,000 |
| At heartbeat confirmation | $3,500 |
| Monthly during pregnancy (8 payments of $5,000) | $40,000 |
| Wellness package | $1,750 |
| Sample base total | $50,500 |
Experienced surrogates add $10,000, taking a comparable schedule to roughly $60,500.
Your expenses: $15,000–$20,000+ on top
Separate from your fee and not deducted from it: $300 monthly allowance with no receipts; all lost wages, yours and your partner’s; travel and a travel companion; family allowance for overnights away; weekly bed rest allowance; post-birth medical leave, 6–8 weeks; maternity clothing; medical insurance and all medical costs; life insurance; your own attorney’s fees; mental health support.
Your payments are held in third-party escrow, and in Kansas that’s the protection that actually matters. Your contract’s enforceability has never been tested against the Attorney General opinions. Escrow means it doesn’t have to be.
Three things about the money nobody else will tell you
It is very likely taxable. The “non-taxable reimbursement” argument circulating online is unsettled and the IRS has not endorsed it. Most tax professionals treat surrogate compensation as taxable income, and some agencies issue a 1099. Budget as though it’s taxable and speak to a CPA before you sign.
It can affect Kansas benefits. If your household receives KanCare, food assistance, cash assistance or child care subsidy, surrogate compensation counts as income and could take you over an eligibility threshold. KanCare also generally won’t cover a surrogate pregnancy — appropriate coverage is arranged for you. Get advice on timing before you match.
Compensation is not what makes this exploitative or not. You’ll encounter the argument that paying surrogates commodifies women and children — it was the case made for the 2014 bill. What actually protects you isn’t a lower fee. It’s proper medical and psychological screening, your own lawyer, a funded escrow account, and the freedom to decline a match. Make sure you have all four.
The questionnaire tells you which fee structure you’d qualify for and what your schedule would look like.
See what I’d be paid →
What the process looks like in Kansas
Twelve to eighteen months from application to birth.
Month 1 — Application and matching. You apply, we review your history, and you speak to the agency. Matching typically takes one to three months and you have a say — you’re not assigned to anyone. Kansas is a small market, so matching can take longer than in Illinois or Ohio.
Months 2–3 — Screening. Bloodwork, an infectious disease panel, a saline sonogram or hysteroscopy, and a psychological evaluation with someone experienced in third-party reproduction. Your partner is screened too. [VERIFY current Kansas fertility clinics and which your partner agency works with. The main centres are in the Kansas City metro, Overland Park and Wichita.] If you’re in western Kansas, expect significant travel, reimbursed.
Month 4 — Contracts, and this is the stage that matters most in Kansas. Get your own attorney. Confirm escrow is funded. Establish which county the parentage petition will go to and what that judge does. If you’re in the KC metro, settle the Kansas-or-Missouri delivery question now. Nothing medical should begin until the agreement is signed and clearance letters have gone to the clinic.
Months 5–6 — Medication and transfer. Estrogen and progesterone to prepare your lining, monitored by ultrasound and bloodwork. The transfer takes minutes and needs no anaesthetic. A pregnancy test around ten days later. Not every transfer works first time; that’s normal and covered.
Months 6–15 — Pregnancy. Care with your own OB or a practice the clinic refers you to. Your attorney files for the parentage order during the pregnancy; a hearing is required, though you usually won’t need to attend.
Birth and after. You deliver at a Kansas hospital you choose. Where a pre-birth order was granted, the genetically related intended parent is recognised at birth; a non-genetic intended parent completes their step afterwards. You recover for six to eight weeks with support.
The first step is 12 questions about your pregnancy history. If you’re not a fit, we’ll say so straight away.
Start the questionnaire →
The risks, honestly
Any page listing only the rewards is selling you something.
Physical. Every risk of pregnancy again: gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, hyperemesis, preterm labour, haemorrhage, an unplanned C-section. IVF pregnancies carry a modestly elevated rate of some complications. If a previous pregnancy was difficult, it can be again. Maternal mortality in the US is low but not zero, and that deserves saying plainly.
The medication is not nothing. Weeks of injections, with bruising, mood swings, headaches and bloating.
Legal, and Kansas has more of this than its neighbours. Two advisory opinions from the state’s own Attorney General argue your contract is void. Nobody has tested it, courts grant orders regardless, and escrow plus a good attorney reduces the practical exposure to very little. But it’s real, it’s specific to Kansas, and you should factor it in rather than have it waved away.
Emotional. Most gestational surrogates don’t experience the grief people expect. But postpartum depression is as possible for you as for any birth, and there’s a flatness some women describe when the intensity ends. Use the counselling.
Relational. Your partner signs paperwork too. Your children will have questions.
Failed transfers and loss. Not every transfer takes, and miscarriage happens at roughly the general rate. It’s hard to carry when it wasn’t your pregnancy to lose.
The relationship may not be what you hoped. Some surrogates stay close to the families they carried for; some drift.
How we make money
SurroAdvisor is free for you and always will be. When we match you with an agency and you’re accepted into their programme, they pay us a fee. You are never charged, and your compensation isn’t reduced because you came through us.
We think you should know that, and that it should shape how you read this page — including the section above where we set out both sides of the Kansas debate and clearly have a side.
It’s also why we only work with just one, trusted, agency partner — based right here in the Midwest — rather than listing everyone who’ll pay us. We’d rather send you somewhere we’d send a friend, in fact we worked with them ourselves for our own surrogacy journeys.
What we do that contacting an agency directly doesn’t:
- We tell you if you don’t qualify before you spend six weeks on an application
- We know which programmes will look at a third C-section, a BMI of 34, HSV-2 or a history of preeclampsia
- In Kansas specifically, we’ll make sure you have your own attorney and funded escrow before anything medical starts — because Kansas law won’t require either
Common questions from Kansas surrogates
Is surrogacy legal in Kansas?
Yes. No Kansas statute prohibits it and no published Kansas case has struck it down, and gestational surrogacy is practised across the state. The complication is that two Kansas Attorney General opinions have argued surrogacy contracts are void as against public policy. Those opinions are advisory rather than binding, no court has adopted them, and judges continue to grant parentage orders — but the tension is real and unique to Kansas among its neighbours.
Are surrogacy contracts enforceable in Kansas?
Untested, honestly. There’s no statute making them enforceable, no published case law either way, and two Attorney General opinions arguing they aren’t. In practice contracts are drafted, signed and followed routinely. What protects you isn’t the contract’s theoretical enforceability but a properly funded escrow account, which puts your compensation beyond the question entirely.
Do I need my own lawyer?
Kansas doesn’t require it — which is exactly why you should insist. Michigan and Illinois both make independent counsel a statutory condition of a valid surrogacy agreement. Kansas has no such rule, so the protection is only there if you ask for it. The intended parents should pay for your attorney; that’s standard practice everywhere even where it isn’t mandated.
Do I have to live in Kansas to be a surrogate here?
No. Kansas has no residency requirement for surrogates — no statutory requirements of any kind, in fact. Living in Kansas simplifies clinic access, your delivery hospital and the court that handles parentage, but it isn’t a legal condition.
Will the intended parents be on the birth certificate?
Usually. Kansas courts generally grant pre-birth parentage orders where at least one intended parent is genetically related to the child, though it varies by county and judge and a hearing is required. Where neither intended parent is genetically related, or for the non-genetic partner, a stepparent or second-parent adoption after the birth is normally needed.
I live in the Kansas City metro. Does the state line matter?
Quite a lot, yes. Kansas courts grant pre-birth parentage orders; Missouri cannot issue them at all. Which state’s rules apply depends on where the baby is born, so if your nearest hospital or your fertility clinic is on the Missouri side, flag it during the contract stage rather than in the third trimester.
Can I be a surrogate if I’ve had a C-section?
Yes. Two prior C-sections is standard at most programmes and three is often workable. The clinic assesses how your uterus healed, whether you had complications, and what imaging shows. Start requesting your operative reports now — hospital records take longer to arrive than people expect.
Can I be a surrogate if I had cholestasis of pregnancy?
Usually not, and it’s better to know now. Intrahepatic cholestasis recurs in a large proportion of subsequent pregnancies and is associated with increased risk to the baby, so most programmes decline or require maternal–fetal medicine sign-off. Raise it in your first conversation.
Can you be a surrogate with endometriosis?
Usually yes, which surprises people. Endometriosis mainly affects conceiving rather than carrying, and you’ve already demonstrated you can carry to term. Your uterine cavity is checked during standard screening.
Can you be a surrogate with Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism?
Very often yes, if it’s well controlled on levothyroxine with your TSH in the target range. Thyroid function is monitored closely in any IVF pregnancy. Bring recent labs.
Can you be a surrogate with HSV-2?
Generally yes. It’s managed with suppressive antiviral medication from around 36 weeks and a C-section if there are active lesions at delivery. Most programmes accept HSV-2 positive surrogates. Disclose it at application — it’s a planning conversation, not a disqualification.
Can I be a surrogate if I’m on antidepressants?
It depends on the programme. Some require six to twelve months off psychotropic medication; others accept stable long-term SSRI use with clearance from the evaluating psychologist. Don’t stop your medication to qualify — speak to your prescriber and to us first.
I’ve had my tubes tied. Does that disqualify me?
No. Gestational surrogacy places an embryo directly into your uterus, so your fallopian tubes aren’t involved. An IUD needs removing and Depo-Provera needs a wash-out period, but neither is a barrier.
What if my BMI is over the limit?
Most clinics want under 32, with flexibility to around 35. At 34 or 36 the usual outcome is a conversation about reaching the threshold before transfer, not rejection.
Isn’t paid surrogacy exploitative?
It’s a fair question and it’s been argued seriously in Kansas — it was the case made for the 2014 bill that would have banned surrogacy contracts here. The concern is that women in financial difficulty might agree to something they wouldn’t otherwise choose. What we’d say is that the protections against that aren’t about the money: they’re thorough medical and psychological screening, your own independent attorney, a funded escrow account, the right to decline any match, and a programme that will tell you no when the answer is no. If any of those are missing, walk away regardless of the fee. We’re paid when you’re matched, so weigh that when reading this answer.
Will surrogate pay affect KanCare or food assistance?
It can, and it’s the question we most wish women asked earlier. Surrogate compensation is income and may take your household over an eligibility threshold. KanCare also generally won’t cover a surrogate pregnancy — appropriate coverage is arranged separately. Get advice on the timing before you match.
Do I have to pay tax on it?
Assume yes. The “non-taxable reimbursement” theory is unsettled and unendorsed by the IRS. Set money aside and talk to a CPA before your first payment.
Can I choose the intended parents?
Yes. Matching runs both ways and you can decline a match, including after a first conversation. Think in advance about contact during pregnancy, any relationship afterwards, and how you’d each handle a difficult prenatal diagnosis.
What if I change my mind?
Before transfer you can withdraw, and your agreement sets out how. Once pregnant, you cannot be compelled to undergo a medical procedure. Beyond that you’d be in breach of contract — though given how untested Kansas contract enforceability is, that territory is genuinely unmapped for everyone involved. Another reason to be certain before signing.
Does being a surrogate affect my own fertility?
There’s no evidence that carrying a gestational surrogacy pregnancy reduces future fertility. The risks are those of any pregnancy: a C-section adds scar tissue, and a serious complication could have lasting effects.
Ready to find out where you stand?
If you’ve carried a healthy pregnancy, you’re 21 to 45, you don’t use nicotine and you’re raising your own child, you’re likely eligible — and the questionnaire will tell you in about five minutes.
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More on surrogacy:
What is a surrogate mother? · Gestational vs traditional surrogacy · Surrogate requirements
Nearby states: Missouri · Iowa · Illinois · Arkansas
This page is general information, not medical, legal, or tax advice. Kansas has no surrogacy statute and its law is genuinely unsettled, so professional guidance matters more here than in most states. Speak to a Kansas reproductive attorney before signing any agreement, and to a CPA before receiving compensation.