The Canadian Surrogacy Dictionary
Surrogacy comes with a whole new vocabulary. Here is a straightforward guide to the words you will hear most often — without the legalese.
No two clinics, lawyers, agencies, or journeys use every term in exactly the same way. Think of this as your translator, not a checklist or medical plan.
Starting out, screening, and matching
Agency
A team that supports intended parents and surrogates through the journey. An agency may help with education, screening, matching, coordination, and practical support. Its role and services vary, so it is important to understand exactly what is included.
Application
The first set of questions someone completes to explore becoming a surrogate or working with an agency. It is an introduction, not a guarantee of acceptance or matching.
Case coordinator / journey coordinator
The person who helps keep the practical pieces moving once a journey is underway. They may coordinate appointments, communication, documents, travel, and next steps, depending on the program.
Consultation
An introductory conversation where you can ask questions, explain your situation, and learn whether a program may be a fit. It is a good time to ask what is included, what happens next, and what costs may arise.
Match meeting
An initial conversation between prospective intended parent(s) and a prospective surrogate. It is a chance to see whether values, communication styles, expectations, and personalities feel compatible. Everyone can take time to decide whether they want to proceed.
Medical records review
Before a clinic approves a prospective surrogate, it may review previous pregnancy, delivery, and health records. A positive first conversation or agency screening does not replace clinic approval.
Profile
A written introduction that helps intended parents and surrogates get to know each other before meeting. It may include family details, values, hopes for the journey, and practical preferences.
Screening appointment
An appointment or series of appointments used to assess whether someone meets a clinic or program’s requirements. It may include a health history, physical examination, ultrasound, bloodwork, infectious-disease testing, counselling or psychological assessment, and a review of prior pregnancy records. The exact process is clinic-specific.
Medical clearance
The clinic’s decision that a person has met its medical requirements to move to the next stage. It is not a promise that an embryo transfer or pregnancy will be successful.
Psychological clearance / psychoeducational assessment
An assessment or counselling process that explores readiness, expectations, support systems, communication, and the emotional side of a third-party reproduction journey. Clinics set their own requirements.
Intended parent (IP)
The person or people planning to become the child’s parent(s) through surrogacy. You may also see IPs used for more than one intended parent.
Surrogate
A person who agrees to carry a pregnancy for intended parent(s). Every surrogate is a whole person with her own family, life, values, and reasons for choosing this path.
Carrier / gestational carrier
Another way to describe a surrogate. A gestational carrier carries an embryo that was created using an egg and sperm from other people; she is not genetically related to the baby.
Traditional surrogacy
An arrangement where the surrogate’s own egg is used. This is different from gestational surrogacy and can involve additional medical and legal considerations.
The legal and financial language
Altruistic surrogacy
In Canada, a surrogate cannot be paid a fee for carrying a pregnancy. She can be reimbursed for eligible expenses connected to the pregnancy, when the requirements are met and records are kept. That model is called altruistic surrogacy.
Reimbursement
Paying back a surrogate for eligible, documented expenses related to the surrogacy journey. Examples can include travel, maternity clothing, childcare, or lost income in specific circumstances. What is eligible depends on Canadian law and the individual situation.
Expense declaration
A signed record that sets out the expenses for which reimbursement is requested. Supporting records, including receipts where required, matter. This is why people may talk about “keeping every receipt.”
Escrow
A separate account used to hold money for agreed surrogacy-related expenses. It can make reimbursements more organized and transparent.
Independent legal advice (ILA)
Each party has their own lawyer explain the surrogacy agreement and its legal implications before signing. This helps ensure everyone understands the agreement and makes their own informed decisions.
Surrogacy agreement
A written agreement that sets out the expectations, responsibilities, and plans for everyone involved. It is not a substitute for legal advice, and it should be reviewed independently by each party’s lawyer.
Legal clearance letter
A confirmation, often provided to a fertility clinic after legal steps have been completed, that the clinic requires before moving forward. Each clinic has its own process and wording.
Parentage
The legal recognition of who is a child’s parent or parents. Parentage rules and processes differ by province and territory, so legal advice is essential.
Birth plan
The practical plan for labour, delivery, hospital communication, newborn care, visitors, photos, and the transition after birth. It is usually discussed well before delivery and may change if medical needs require it.
The clinic and treatment language
Assisted reproduction
Medical care that helps someone become pregnant, including IVF and embryo transfer.
Egg donor
Someone who donates eggs to help create embryos. The donor may be known to the intended parents or anonymous, depending on the arrangement and clinic.
Sperm donor
Someone who provides sperm to help create embryos. The donor may be known to the intended parent(s) or obtained through a regulated donor program, depending on the arrangement and clinic.
Gametes
The medical word for eggs and sperm.
IVF (in vitro fertilization)
A process in which eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory to create embryos. The embryos may be frozen, tested in some circumstances, or transferred at a later time.
Embryo
An embryo is created when an egg and sperm are combined through IVF. It may be transferred to a surrogate’s uterus in the hope that it will result in a pregnancy.
Blastocyst
An embryo that has developed for about five or six days after fertilization. This is a common stage for freezing, testing, or transfer, but the clinic will explain the options for a specific journey.
Embryo grading
The clinic’s description of how an embryo looks under the microscope at a particular stage of development. A grade is one piece of clinical information; it cannot guarantee whether an embryo will implant or result in a live birth.
PGT-A / embryo testing
Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) is one type of testing that may be discussed for embryos. It is not part of every journey, and a fertility specialist or genetic counsellor can explain whether it is relevant and what its limits are.
Frozen embryo transfer (FET)
An embryo transfer using an embryo that was frozen earlier and then thawed by the clinic. Many gestational-carrier journeys use frozen embryos, though treatment plans are individual.
Embryo transfer
The fertility-clinic procedure where an embryo is placed in the surrogate’s uterus.
Transfer cycle
The period of preparation leading up to an embryo transfer. It may include medication, ultrasounds, bloodwork, and specific timing instructions from the clinic.
Mock cycle
A practice run of a transfer protocol that a clinic may use to see how the body responds to medication and timing. Not every clinic or journey uses one.
Baseline appointment / baseline ultrasound
An early-cycle appointment that may include an ultrasound and bloodwork before medication begins. It gives the clinic a starting point for the treatment cycle.
Lining check / endometrial lining check
An ultrasound appointment, sometimes paired with bloodwork, to assess the endometrium—the lining inside the uterus—before a planned transfer. The clinic is checking whether the lining and hormone timing are appropriate for that person’s protocol. Only the treating clinic can interpret the result and advise whether to continue, adjust medication, or reschedule.
Endometrium
The lining inside the uterus. An embryo needs to implant in this lining for a pregnancy to begin.
Monitoring appointment
An appointment during a treatment cycle to check progress. Depending on the protocol, it may include a transvaginal ultrasound, bloodwork, or both.
Transvaginal ultrasound
An ultrasound performed with a small probe placed in the vagina. Fertility clinics commonly use it to view the uterus, ovaries, and endometrial lining.
Bloodwork / hormone levels
Blood tests used to measure hormones or check other health information. The clinic uses these results alongside ultrasound findings and the treatment plan.
Estrogen
A hormone medication that may be used in some transfer protocols to help prepare the uterine lining. The dose, form, and timing are set by the clinic.
Progesterone
A hormone that may be prescribed before and after transfer to support the uterine lining in some protocols. It can be given in different forms, such as injections, vaginal medication, or pills, depending on the clinic plan.
PIO
Short for progesterone in oil: one type of progesterone injection used in some fertility-treatment protocols.
Medicated versus natural cycle
Two broad ways a clinic may time a transfer. A medicated cycle uses prescribed hormones; a natural or modified-natural cycle follows the body’s own ovulation more closely, sometimes with medication support. The clinic decides what is appropriate.
Hysteroscopy, HSG, or saline sonogram
Different tests a clinic may use to look at the uterus or fallopian tubes. Not everyone needs each test. If one is recommended, the clinic should explain what it is checking and how to prepare.
The waiting and early-pregnancy language
Two-week wait (TWW)
The anxious period after embryo transfer before the pregnancy blood test. It is often called the “two-week wait,” though the clinic’s actual timing may be shorter or longer.
Beta / beta hCG
A blood test that measures human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone associated with pregnancy. Clinics may repeat the test to look at how the level changes over time. The treating team is the right source for interpreting an individual result.
Implantation
The process in which an embryo attaches to the uterine lining and begins to develop. An embryo transfer does not guarantee implantation.
Chemical pregnancy
A very early pregnancy loss identified by a positive hCG test before an ultrasound can confirm a pregnancy in the uterus. This term can feel clinical; anyone experiencing it deserves care and support.
Viability scan / heartbeat ultrasound
An early ultrasound that checks the location and early development of a pregnancy. The timing and what can be seen vary, so the clinic will guide each person about expectations.
OB / midwife handoff
The transition from fertility-clinic care to an obstetrician, family physician, or midwife for ongoing prenatal care. The timing and provider options vary by location and pregnancy.
A few terms that matter at every stage
Counselling or psychological assessment
A conversation with a qualified professional that helps people think through the emotional, practical, and relationship side of surrogacy. Fertility clinics and agencies may have their own requirements.
Fertility clinic
The medical team that provides fertility treatment and oversees medical parts of the journey, such as screening, medication, IVF, embryo transfer, and pregnancy care at the clinic stage.
Match
The connection between a surrogate and intended parent(s) when everyone feels the relationship may be a good fit. A match is usually followed by further medical, legal, and practical steps; it is not a promise of pregnancy or birth.
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This dictionary is general education, not legal or medical advice. Surrogacy laws and clinic requirements can differ across Canada and change over time.