Surrogacy for transgender parents

Brilliant Beginnings has championed LGBT+ inclusion for many years, and supports trans men, trans women and non-binary people building families through surrogacy. Trans parents who need the help of a surrogate include trans women (assigned male at birth) who do not have a uterus, and trans men (assigned female at birth) for whom, even if they have a uterus, carrying a pregnancy is not possible or counterintuitive.

This page covers some specific issues which arise for transgender and gender diverse intended parents, but please also see our information for different-sex parents, male same-sex parents, female same-sex parents, single dads and single mums depending on your personal circumstances. Please note that we have used ‘sex’ rather than ‘gender’ to describe relationship status to be consistent with common usage and legal terminology.

Fertility preservation and options for conception

If you stored eggs or sperm before transition to preserve your fertility, you may have eggs, sperm or embryos in storage available for you to use in a surrogacy process. Alternatively you may be able to provide eggs or sperm now to create embryos to conceive a child (and if this means you will need to adjust any hormone treatments you are on it is important to seek expert medical advice).

You may need to think about finding an egg or sperm donor (or both) to help you conceive. If you are not able to use your own genetic material (or eggs/sperm from your partner) then conceiving through surrogacy will be complicated from a UK legal perspective. We would recommend seeking early legal advice and our sister organisation NGA Law can help you.

What parental title will I have on my child’s birth certificate?

Any child born through surrogacy is issued with a new UK birth certificate after the family court makes a parental order which records the child’s parents as his or her ‘parents’. Gender-neutral parental titles on birth certificates are therefore standard for all parents through surrogacy, and this avoids some of the difficulties which can arise for trans parents in other assisted conception situations.

Where do I start?

Surrogacy is a big decision, and something you need to feel prepared for. Our surrogacy information area contains a wealth of information about surrogacy options, emotional issues and the practicalities of surrogacy in the UK and overseas.

Brilliant Beginnings can also help through our personalised meetings to help you explore your options and professional services to help you find a surrogate in the UK, US or Canada and to support you through your journey.

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