How should clinics market gestational carrier programs?
Clinics should market gestational carrier programs by explaining exactly what the clinic does, what agencies and attorneys do, and how the pieces connect. Run separate funnels for intended parents and potential carriers, build partner relationships, describe screening in line with ASRM and SART guidance, and reflect state law, which varies widely. Never promise legal outcomes or timelines.
- Clarify roles first: intended parents mostly want to know what the clinic, agency and attorney each do.
- Run three funnels: intended parents, potential carriers and professional partners, each with its own pages and data handling.
- State law varies: New York, for example, licenses surrogacy programs under its Child-Parent Security Act.
- Follow ASRM and SART 2022 guidance on screening, counseling and independent legal counsel in your copy.
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What is the clinic's role in a gestational carrier program, and who is the marketing for?
Most fertility clinics provide the medical side of gestational carrier arrangements: screening, embryo creation and transfer, and early pregnancy care. Agencies often handle matching and case management, and attorneys handle contracts and parentage. Your marketing should say clearly which parts your clinic does, which parts partners do, and how the pieces fit.
That clarity is the main marketing job. Intended parents arriving at a gestational carrier page are often confused about who does what. They may have spoken to an agency, read a state law summary, and still not know where the clinic fits. A page that maps the journey and names each party's role answers their real question.
Three operating models
| Model | What the clinic does | Marketing focus |
|---|---|---|
| Medical-only | Screening, IVF, embryo transfer; works with any agency or independent match | Clinical team, coordination with agencies and attorneys, timelines |
| Partnered | Medical care plus formal relationships with selected agencies or attorneys | A clear, coordinated path; disclosure of how partners are chosen |
| In-house program | Medical care plus recruitment, matching and case management | Carrier recruitment, intended-parent support, and any state licensing duties |
Each model has different compliance duties. An in-house program that recruits and matches carriers may be treated as a surrogacy program under some state laws. Decide your model with counsel before writing a word of marketing copy.
The three audiences you market to
Gestational carrier marketing reaches three groups: intended parents, potential carriers, and professional partners such as agencies, attorneys and referring physicians. Intended parents want clarity on process and roles. Carriers want respect, support and honest information. Partners want reliable coordination. Each needs its own pages and messages.
Intended parents
- People with a medical reason they cannot carry a pregnancy, often referred by their physician.
- Gay male couples and single men, who usually need donor eggs and a carrier together. See our LGBTQ+ family-building marketing guide.
- Intended parents from other states, who choose a clinic based on legal environment, travel and experience.
Potential carriers
Women who have had children and are considering carrying for another family. They want to understand screening, the medical process, legal protections, and support. Many have heard about surrogacy from friends or family and want to verify what they heard.
Professional partners
Agencies, reproductive law attorneys, mental health professionals and referring OB-GYNs. They choose clinics for responsiveness, clear protocols and good communication with all parties. Business-to-business content, such as a partner guide and a named coordinator contact, often matters more than ads here.
Keep the carrier recruitment funnel completely separate from the intended-parent funnel. Different forms, different follow-up staff, different data handling.
How do state laws and professional guidance shape the message?
Gestational surrogacy law is set by states and differs widely, so marketing must reflect the states where carriers live, deliver and sign contracts. Professional guidance from ASRM and SART sets screening and counseling expectations. Your copy should describe both accurately and send readers to independent counsel for legal questions.
State law example: New York
New York's Child-Parent Security Act took effect on February 15, 2021. According to the New York State Department of Health, it legalized gestational surrogacy agreements that meet its criteria and created a Surrogates' Bill of Rights, including the right to independent legal counsel licensed in New York. Organizations that run gestational surrogacy programs there must be licensed by the Department of Health. Whether the law applies to a given arrangement depends on facts such as where the parties live and where the birth happens, so confirm scope with New York counsel.
Other states have their own statutes, case law or none at all. Never write a page that implies one state's rules apply everywhere.
ASRM and SART guidance
The ASRM and SART practice committees published recommendations for practices using gestational carriers in 2022. They cover screening and evaluation of carriers and intended parents, psychological evaluation by a qualified mental health professional, and the need for each party to have independent legal counsel licensed in the applicable state. It also sets carrier criteria, including age and prior-pregnancy history (commonly summarized as ages 21 to 45 with at least one prior term, uncomplicated pregnancy). Quote the current document directly, and have your medical team confirm the exact wording and exceptions.
What to do with this
- State in carrier ads that the program follows professional screening guidance, then link to a page explaining it.
- Do not promise acceptance, timelines or legal outcomes.
- Show the states your clinic serves and say that legal steps vary by state.
How should a clinic position its gestational carrier service?
Position the service around coordination and care quality: one clinical team that works smoothly with agencies, attorneys and counselors, keeps every party informed, and explains each step before it happens. Avoid positioning on speed, guaranteed matches or success. Intended parents are buying confidence in a long, multi-party process.
Positioning angles that hold up
- Coordination. A named coordinator for each case, a shared timeline, and clear communication rules with partners.
- Experience with the process. Describe the steps your team manages and the partners you work with, without volume claims you cannot support.
- Inclusive family building. Say plainly that you work with single parents and LGBTQ+ couples, and show it in imagery and language.
- Out-of-state support. If you serve intended parents from other states, explain remote consults, travel planning and how records move.
- Carrier care. Describe how your team supports carriers during screening, treatment and the handoff to obstetric care.
Offer design without pricing claims
Useful offers lower uncertainty rather than price. Examples include a free orientation webinar for intended parents, a written journey map after the first consult, a partner introduction call, or a coordinator call for carrier applicants before any paperwork. Each gives readers a low-pressure next step.
Avoid bundled "journey packages" with refund or outcome promises unless counsel has reviewed both the terms and the advertising. With several parties involved, outcome-linked offers are especially hard to describe accurately.
Separate the brand voices
The intended-parent voice is reassuring and practical. The carrier voice is respectful and plain about commitment. Keep both consistent with the clinic's main brand, but do not reuse the same headlines across them.
Which channels work for gestational carrier programs?
Search and professional referrals usually bring intended parents; social media and community word of mouth usually bring carrier interest. Partnerships with agencies and attorneys are a channel in their own right. Every channel should lead to an education page first, because both audiences need context before a form.
Search for intended parents
Intended parents search with long, specific questions about process, legal steps, and how clinics work with agencies. Build content that answers each one and links to a clear consult path. Our guide to fertility clinic content shows how to plan these pages. Many intended parents compare clinics in other states, so content about travel, coordination and remote consults matters.
Social media for carriers
Short videos of coordinators explaining screening and support give potential carriers honest context. Use broad targeting; Meta restricts health-based targeting. Before launch, check each ad platform's current policy on fertility, donor and surrogacy recruitment ads; some categories are restricted or reviewed more closely. Avoid compensation-first creative, and avoid any image that shows a real patient without written authorization.
Professional partnerships
Agencies, attorneys and mental health professionals refer intended parents and carriers. Publish a partner page with your protocols, a coordinator contact and expected response times. Any arrangement involving payment or anything of value for referrals needs legal review; federal and state rules on referral payments and fee splitting vary. To see which partners actually send cases, use a method like the one in our guide on tracking fertility referral partner leads.
Physician referrals
OB-GYNs and other specialists often first raise the option of a carrier. A short physician guide explaining your process and how you report back keeps these relationships active.
Email and SMS
Long journeys need steady updates. Use email and SMS only with documented consent, honor opt-outs, and keep medical details out of the messages.
What should gestational carrier pages include?
Build two core pages: one for intended parents and one for potential carriers. Each should explain the process from the reader's side, name who does what, describe screening and counseling, mention legal steps without giving legal advice, and offer a safe, staged way to make contact.
Intended-parent page checklist
- A plain explanation of gestational carrier arrangements and the clinic's role.
- A journey map: consult, embryo creation, carrier screening, legal agreements, transfer, and handoff to obstetric care.
- How the clinic works with agencies, independent matches and attorneys.
- The counseling intended parents receive.
- The states the clinic serves and a reminder that legal steps vary.
- The clinical and coordination team, with names and credentials.
- A consult request form that does not ask for medical history.
Carrier page checklist
- What being a carrier involves, described honestly.
- Screening and evaluation steps, consistent with professional guidance.
- Legal protections and the right to independent counsel.
- Support during and after pregnancy.
- Privacy: who sees her information and how it is stored.
- A short first-step form; detailed health history only in a secure system.
Tone
Write about carriers as partners in care. Avoid language that treats pregnancy as a service for sale. Intended parents notice the tone, and carriers decide based on it.
What compliance risks are specific to gestational carrier marketing?
The main risks are misstating state law, implying legal or medical outcomes, mishandling sensitive data from carrier applicants, using patient images or stories without authorization, and referral arrangements that break payment rules. FTC advertising rules and HIPAA apply as they do to all fertility marketing. Confirm specifics with counsel.
- Legal claims. Do not tell readers what parentage outcome they will get. Explain that it depends on state law and their attorney's work.
- Licensing. If your clinic recruits and matches carriers, check whether any state treats that as a regulated surrogacy program, as New York does.
- Advertising accuracy. The FTC Act bars deceptive claims. The FTC Health Products Compliance Guidance explains how claims about health outcomes are judged.
- Stories and photos. Use written authorization from every person shown, including carriers. Follow the FTC Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, and the FTC fake reviews rule effective October 2024.
- Tracking. HHS guidance on online tracking technologies still covers authenticated pages and portals after the June 2024 court ruling. Keep pixels off carrier applications and intake flows. Use vendors who sign a BAA.
- Embryo and donor rules. Where donor gametes are involved, FDA donor-eligibility rules in 21 CFR Part 1271 apply. Describe screening only as it is actually done.
Our fertility advertising compliance guide covers these areas in more detail.
National data context
Gestational carrier cycles involve IVF, so they fall within the CDC's definition of assisted reproductive technology and its national reporting. If you publish outcome data for carrier cycles, use reported data, define it clearly, and get counsel to review the presentation.
Which KPIs and 90-day plan suit a gestational carrier program?
Track intended parents and carriers in separate funnels, plus partner referrals as a third source. For intended parents, measure consults and treatment starts. For carriers, measure applicants who complete screening. A 90-day plan should fix pages and data handling first, then partners, then paid reach.
| Funnel | Key KPIs |
|---|---|
| Intended parents | Qualified consult requests, consults attended, patients starting treatment, cost per patient starting treatment |
| Carriers | Initial applications, screening pass-through by stage, withdrawal reasons, cost per carrier cleared for matching |
| Partners | Referrals by partner, response time to partner inquiries, cases coordinated |
Weeks 1–4
- Confirm your operating model and state duties with counsel.
- Publish the intended-parent and carrier pages; build secure, staged forms.
- Set up HIPAA-safe call and form tracking under a BAA.
Weeks 5–8
- Publish a partner guide and contact agencies, attorneys and referring physicians.
- Launch search campaigns for intended-parent questions.
Weeks 9–12
- Run broad social video aimed at potential carriers.
- Review funnel data and rewrite pages where readers drop off.
Gestational carrier marketing is part of our fertility and IVF marketing service. Ichelon Consulting US signs a BAA with every US client, agrees goals monthly, tracks them live on Ichelon Agency OS, and reports every Monday. Retainers start from $499/month, custom-scoped. Book a call with the US team.
Related pages from the US team
Fertility & IVF Marketing Agency USA
How Ichelon Consulting US runs marketing for fertility clinics.
Marketing LGBTQ+ family-building services
Reach intended parents who need donors and carriers.
Track referral partner leads
See which agencies and physicians send real cases.
Fertility advertising compliance
HIPAA, FTC and claims rules for fertility clinics.
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We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
How should a fertility clinic market a gestational carrier program?
Explain the clinic's role clearly, separate intended-parent and carrier funnels, and build partner relationships with agencies, attorneys and referring physicians. Describe screening and counseling accurately, note that legal steps vary by state, and avoid promising timelines or legal outcomes. Use HIPAA-safe tracking and keep carrier health information out of marketing forms.
Do state surrogacy laws affect clinic marketing?
Yes. Gestational surrogacy law is set state by state. New York's Child-Parent Security Act, effective February 15, 2021, legalized qualifying agreements and requires organizations running surrogacy programs there to be licensed by the Department of Health. Clinics should reflect the states they serve and send legal questions to independent counsel.
What do ASRM and SART recommend for gestational carriers?
The 2022 ASRM and SART committee opinion covers screening and evaluation of carriers and intended parents, psychological evaluation by a qualified mental health professional, and independent legal counsel licensed in the applicable state for each party. It also sets carrier criteria on age and prior pregnancy history, so check the current document before quoting them.
How should clinics recruit gestational carriers?
Use education-first content, especially short videos from coordinators explaining screening and support, with broad social targeting. Avoid compensation-led creative. Send interested women to a page explaining the process, legal protections and privacy before a short first-step form. Collect detailed health history only in a secure system covered by a Business Associate Agreement.
Can a clinic pay agencies or attorneys for gestational carrier referrals?
Treat any such arrangement with great caution. Federal anti-kickback rules and state anti-kickback and fee-splitting laws can apply, and they vary, and some states regulate surrogacy programs directly. Have healthcare counsel review every partner agreement before it starts. In marketing, focus on coordination quality, response times and clear protocols rather than financial incentives.
Which KPIs matter for a gestational carrier program?
Track three funnels. For intended parents: qualified consult requests, consults attended and cost per patient starting treatment. For carriers: applications, screening pass-through, withdrawal reasons and cost per carrier cleared for matching. For partners: referrals by partner and response time. Keep reporting aggregated and free of individual medical details.
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
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