The Surrogate Compass eligibility quiz is a short set of questions about your age, health, pregnancy history, household and insurance. It gives you a preliminary indication of whether your situation is likely to meet the criteria most U.S. surrogacy programs use. It is free and creates no obligation. It does not approve you. Agencies, fertility clinics and attorneys make that decision later, through a screening process that takes months.
You are probably reading this privately. Many women look into surrogacy for weeks before saying a word to a partner, a sister or a friend, partly because it feels too early to say anything out loud and partly because they want to know whether they would even qualify. That is a reasonable order to do things in. A quiz is one of the few steps you can take without committing to anything or talking to anyone.
Surrogate Compass is an independent platform, not an agency. We help women considering gestational surrogacy understand whether they are likely to qualify, what pay could look like, how the process runs and which programs may fit, and we connect them with agencies. The agencies screen, match, contract and pay. This page explains what each quiz question is for, which answers are more flexible than a yes or no suggests, and what actually happens after you submit, including in California, where the legal framework for surrogacy is among the most established in the country.
Why Eligibility Quizzes Exist, and What They Can and Cannot Tell You
A quiz narrows the field quickly, for you and for the programs you might work with. In a few minutes it checks your answers against the threshold criteria that appear across most reputable U.S. agencies. If your answers fall well outside them, you learn that before spending weeks on an application. If they fall inside, you know a real conversation is worth having.
What a quiz cannot do matters just as much. It is self-reported and instant. It does not read your medical records, examine you, review your mental health history with a professional, or check your state's law. Passing it means you meet the common criteria on paper. Actual qualification comes later, through:
- an agency's intake review and full application
- a medical evaluation at a fertility clinic
- a psychological evaluation
- legal consultation and a signed gestational surrogacy agreement
That full process involves physicians and attorneys and usually runs for weeks or months. The quiz is the doorway to it, not a shortcut through it.
Your result is a preliminary indication. It might suggest your situation is likely to fit common criteria, that one or two answers need a closer look from a person, or that some common criteria are not met right now. None of those is a final answer.
What to Have Ready Before You Start
Nothing needs to be gathered to take the quiz. You can answer from memory. A few details make your answers more accurate:
- Your height and current weight, so your BMI can be calculated
- Your pregnancy history: how many pregnancies, how many deliveries, vaginal or C-section, and any complications you remember
- Whether you are currently parenting a child you delivered
- Your health insurance, including whether you know if it covers or excludes surrogacy
- A rough sense of your household: who lives with you, whether anyone smokes, and whether your partner (if you have one) knows you are looking into this
If you later move forward with an agency, it will ask for records rather than memory, especially your obstetric records from past deliveries. Knowing which hospitals and doctors handled those births saves time later.
The Core Eligibility Criteria Most Agencies Use
These criteria show up across most U.S. programs. Each one varies by agency, clinic and physician. Treat them as common ranges, not national rules.
Age. Most programs look for women roughly 21 to 40, and some extend to 42. The lower end reflects maturity and informed consent. The upper end reflects the rising medical risk of pregnancy with age. Professional guidance from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) informs how clinics set age and health screening criteria, and insurance considerations play a part too.
A prior pregnancy, and a child in your care. Nearly all programs look for at least one previous pregnancy carried to term, and for you to be parenting that child now. A past uncomplicated pregnancy is the best available evidence that your body handles pregnancy well. Raising a child also means you know firsthand what pregnancy, delivery and recovery involve, which matters for psychological readiness.
BMI. Most programs look for a BMI in a range of about 19 to 32 or 33. Some cap at 30, and a few go to 34. This is a medical screening criterion tied to pregnancy risks such as gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. It is not a judgment about you. Our guide to surrogate BMI requirements explains the range in more detail.
Non-smoking, substance-free household. Programs generally look for you to be a non-smoker and for your home to be free of smoking and drug use.
Psychiatric medications. Some programs ask about recent use of certain psychiatric medications. This is reviewed case by case. It is not an automatic disqualifier.
Residency and legal status. Most agencies look for applicants who live in the U.S. and are citizens or hold legal residency status.
Financial stability. Many agencies look for applicants who are not receiving certain means-tested public assistance. The reasons are practical: surrogacy compensation can affect eligibility for those programs, and agencies want your household to be stable independently of the pay.
What Each Quiz Question Is Actually Screening For
Understanding the reason behind each question makes it easier to answer it accurately.
Health history. Questions about past conditions look for anything that raises gestational risk, such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia or a known uterine abnormality. A yes here does not end anything. It tells a reviewer to look more closely at your records.
Pregnancy history. Number of pregnancies, deliveries, complications and C-sections. C-section count matters because each one leaves scar tissue on the uterus, which can affect the safety of another pregnancy. Clinics also have different policies on vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), so the same history can be read differently by different physicians.
Mental health. These questions are not designed to exclude you. They help identify what support you might need and confirm you can give informed consent to a demanding process. The full psychological evaluation is where this is actually assessed.
Lifestyle. Smoking, alcohol and drug use. These are asked at the household level because secondhand smoke and the habits of the people you live with affect the pregnancy too.
Insurance. Your current coverage matters because some policies explicitly exclude surrogacy. If yours does, separate surrogacy-specific coverage can usually be arranged. The question just tells the agency what will need to be set up.
Support system. Whether a partner or co-parent knows about and supports your interest. Pregnancy affects everyone in your home, and you will need help during appointments, procedures and recovery.
Across all of these, honest answers serve you. An inaccurate answer may get you through a quiz, but your records will be reviewed later, and a problem found during medical screening or legal review ends the process at a far more disruptive point, after you have invested time and possibly told people.
Criteria That Are More Flexible Than the Quiz Implies
A quiz asks yes or no questions. Several criteria are not really yes or no.
C-section history. One prior C-section is often acceptable. Programs set different limits beyond that, and the reviewing physician assesses your specific history, including how your recovery went and the time between deliveries.
BMI. Some agencies will consider applicants slightly above their stated range when other health markers are strong. Others hold firmly to their number. Clinics differ too.
Mental health history. A history of depression or anxiety that has been treated and is stable is generally not automatically disqualifying. What matters is the evaluation of where you are now.
Where you live. Surrogacy law varies enormously from state to state, and some jurisdictions are hostile to compensated gestational surrogacy. Where you live can affect which programs you can work with and how the legal steps run. California is one of the most established jurisdictions for gestational surrogacy agreements.
A quiz cannot weigh these nuances. A conversation with a person can. None of this means flexibility is assured: each agency and physician decides for itself, based on your records.