Surrogacy and Assisted Reproduction
S1680 substantially revises Florida law governing surrogacy, gestational surrogacy, preplanned adoption arrangements, and assisted reproduction services. It tightens eligibility rules for intended parents, surrogates, and participants by adding criminal-background screening standards, independent legal representation requirements, medical and mental-health evaluations, and mandatory written contracts. The bill also creates a new preconception court-validation process for surrogacy contracts and updates the expedited post-birth process for affirming parental status, while preserving the surrogate’s rights and requiring court review before parental status is confirmed.
The bill also creates a new regulatory framework for donor banks, fertility clinics, and surrogacy agencies. It directs the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Children and Families to adopt rules, license or certify facilities and agencies, inspect them regularly, and impose penalties for noncompliance. It requires informed-consent disclosures, record retention, escrow protections for participant funds, and public listing of certified surrogacy agencies. The bill further bars use of reproductive material or approval of arrangements involving a “disqualified person,” defined by failure to meet level 2 background-screening standards.
The bill would amend existing Florida statutes in chapter 63 and chapter 742 and create new sections 383.61 and 402.89, expanding state oversight of assisted reproduction and surrogacy. It would impose licensing, certification, inspection, disclosure, and recordkeeping duties on donor banks, fertility clinics, and surrogacy agencies, and it would give state agencies enforcement authority through corrective action plans, administrative fines, suspension, and revocation. It also changes parental-status procedures by requiring background checks before court approval, setting conditions for validating surrogacy contracts, and specifying what happens if an intended parent is disqualified, including retention of parental rights by the biological mother or surrogate and denial of parental status to the commissioning couple.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of legislative debate or formal support/opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed as a consumer-protection and child-welfare regulation of assisted reproduction, with extensive procedural safeguards and state oversight. The overall tone of the proposal is regulatory and restrictive rather than permissive, suggesting an intent to standardize practices and reduce legal and ethical risks.
The main points of contention likely concern the bill’s stricter eligibility and screening rules, especially the use of level 2 background checks and the exclusion of any “disqualified person” from surrogacy or adoption arrangements. Another likely area of dispute is the expanded state regulation of fertility clinics and surrogacy agencies, including licensing, certification, inspections, mandatory disclosures, and escrow requirements, which could be viewed as burdensome by providers. The bill also raises sensitive issues around parental rights, the enforceability of surrogacy contracts, the surrogate’s role in medical decision-making, and whether the new rules could limit access to assisted reproduction for some families or individuals.