Recent testimony before the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee raised important questions about surrogacy, agency oversight, participant safety, and regulation within the industry.
As a Texas-based surrogacy agency with more than twenty-four years of experience, Simple Surrogacy welcomes serious conversations about protecting intended parents, gestational carriers, egg donors, and the children born through assisted reproduction. Unethical conduct, exploitation, and unsafe practices should concern everyone working in this field.
Vulnerable people deserve meaningful protection.
However, legislation and public policy must be based on accurate information and a complete understanding of how ethical surrogacy is actually practiced. Broad statements suggesting that surrogacy agencies operate without licensing, professional standards, or meaningful oversight risk mischaracterizing an entire profession devoted to helping people build families safely and responsibly.
One statement made during the hearing deserves particular clarification: the assertion that surrogacy agencies operate without licensing or meaningful oversight.
That is not an accurate representation of the industry.
New York State has established one of the most comprehensive licensing systems for gestational surrogacy organizations in the United States. Simple Surrogacy is proud to be a New York State Licensed Gestational Surrogacy Organization.
Obtaining and maintaining that license requires adherence to rigorous standards governing informed consent, participant protections, agency operations, recordkeeping, ethical conduct, financial practices, and safety.
Although those requirements apply specifically to our licensed work, we voluntarily incorporate the same high standards throughout our practice—not only in New York, but in every journey we coordinate.
We believe Texas now has an opportunity to build upon proven licensing models and become a national leader in ethical surrogacy.
Thoughtful regulation should not discourage responsible surrogacy. It should protect participants, create accountability, and clearly distinguish professional agencies from unethical actors.
At Simple Surrogacy, safety is not a marketing slogan. It is the foundation of every match and every journey we facilitate.
The safeguards incorporated into our process include:
These protections are not administrative formalities. They exist because ethical agencies understand that surrogacy involves real people, significant medical decisions, complex emotions, legal responsibilities, and life-changing commitments.
Every participant deserves transparency, education, independent advocacy, and support.
It is important to remember who is affected when surrogacy is discussed as an abstract policy issue.
Behind every legislative debate may be a woman who was born without a uterus.
A cancer survivor whose life-saving treatment took away her ability to carry a pregnancy.
A family devastated by recurrent pregnancy loss.
A woman with a serious medical condition for whom pregnancy could be life-threatening.
A couple who has endured years of infertility, invasive procedures, and unsuccessful treatments.
Two men who dream of hearing a child call them “Dad.”
A single person who deeply desires parenthood but has no other viable path to having a biologically related child.
For many people, gestational surrogacy is not a matter of convenience. It is their only realistic opportunity to have a child who is biologically related to them.
Without ethical surrogacy, their family-building journey may simply end—not because they lack love, commitment, stability, or the ability to become extraordinary parents, but because of circumstances beyond their control.
They deserve compassion.
They deserve hope.
They deserve the opportunity to build their families safely, ethically, and with meaningful legal protections.
Surrogacy is not about replacing or diminishing families. It is about creating them.
It provides hope to people who may have exhausted every other medical option. It allows children to be born into homes where they are deeply wanted, fiercely loved, and intentionally planned for long before their birth.
Ethical surrogacy also recognizes and respects the extraordinary commitment made by gestational carriers. Surrogates are not commodities, vessels, or anonymous participants in a transaction. They are informed adults making profound decisions about their bodies, their families, and their desire to help another person become a parent.
They deserve independent legal counsel, careful medical screening, psychological support, financial protections, informed consent, and continuing advocacy throughout the journey.
At Simple Surrogacy, we are not simply administrators coordinating a process from a distance.
Members of our team, including our leadership, have personally served as surrogates and egg donors. We understand the emotional, physical, legal, and ethical complexities of third-party reproduction because we have experienced these journeys ourselves.
We understand the sacrifices gestational carriers make.
We understand the hopes and fears carried by intended parents.
We understand why education, counseling, communication, transparency, and continuing support are essential.
That lived experience influences every policy we adopt, every candidate we screen, every match we recommend, and every family we serve.
The answer to unethical practices is not to stigmatize or discourage ethical surrogacy.
The answer is to establish meaningful, enforceable standards that protect participants and distinguish responsible professionals from bad actors.
We believe effective Texas legislation should consider:
Responsible agencies should welcome standards that improve safety, accountability, and public trust.
Simple Surrogacy stands ready to share our experience with Texas lawmakers and other stakeholders seeking to develop thoughtful protections for the surrogacy community. With more than two decades of experience and the perspective of both former surrogates and industry professionals, we believe we can contribute meaningfully to this important conversation.
Texas families deserve protection.
Texas surrogates deserve protection.
Texas children deserve protection.
And Texans who cannot build their families without the extraordinary gift of surrogacy deserve the same opportunity to experience parenthood as anyone else.
Ethical surrogacy and responsible regulation are not opposing goals. Done correctly, they are essential partners in protecting people, preserving hope, and helping families grow.
Kristen Hanson and Stephanie Scott
Owners, Simple Surrogacy, LLC
Dallas, Texas
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