It’s all but certain that third time’s a charm for hopeful parents-to-be in New Jersey who wish to their baby via surrogacy and need to establish a legal gestational carrier agreement.

On April 12, 2018, the New Jersey Legislature passed a long-awaited bill to make written surrogacy agreements legal in the state, reversing a three-decade ban on gestational carrier agreements that followed in the wake of the controversial Baby M surrogacy case. In recent years, two other bills to legalize surrogacy contracts were both vetoed under former Governor Christie. It’s expected that Governor Phil Murphy will approve the current gestational carrier legislation.

As more and more couples are turning to surrogacy as an option to grow their families, especially given the rise of same-sex couples interested in surrogacy as a path to parenthood, proponents of the bill say the time has come to legalize these agreements.

Here’s a closer look at the gestational carrier bill and what parents and surrogates can expect with from the new law.  Read more