The short answer is that a surrogate can change her mind at any time before she becomes pregnant. The longer answer is that we all hope that if there’s a reason to change your mind after you’ve said verbally that you want to work together, it’s as easy as telling your case manager. If you change your mind during the contracts, you just need to tell your lawyer and your case manager. If you decide after the contracts and before you start your medications leading to embryo transfer, you must tell your case manager and the clinic. The last time you really need to change your mind is after a failed embryo transfer and before the next transfer where you can tell your case manager and the clinic. The case manager will contact your intended parents. Obviously, it’s better to make a different decision sooner rather than later. The best time to share your doubts is as soon as you have them. The medical examination, drawing up contracts, starting the process of switching to medications and monitoring, each step costs the Intended Parents money.
When you start this process, you are fully educated and when you start receiving profiles of Intended Parents you will have the opportunity to talk to them and have all your questions answered. However, it is not uncommon to have second thoughts. All anyone asks of you is to keep the lines of communication open and tell your case manager the second time you want to back out. This will save you and the IPs heartache and undue stress.
