RENAP (2021) and the Constitutional Court describe surrogacy as unregulated, and none of the sources on this page calls it legal: the Constitutional Court found the paid hand-over of a child expressly prohibited, RENAP said in 2021 that it has no internal rule to register parentage from a surrogacy agreement, and under Código Civil Art. 210 maternity is established by the fact of birth.
In short: No source on this page cites a surrogacy law, for or against. The Constitutional Court (case 3590-2016), as quoted in a 2023 chapter by Guatemalan family judge Jennie Aimée Molina Morán, said surrogacy is not regulated but that “sí existen leyes prohibitivas expresas” against a woman bearing a child and handing it over for money without State control, pointing to the trafficking offence (Código Penal Art. 202 Ter). RENAP (2021, quoted in the same chapter) said the practice is neither regulated nor legally prohibited, and that it has no rule to register parentage from a surrogacy agreement. Under Código Civil Art. 210 the mother is established by the fact of birth. The UK’s HM Passport Office (1 July 2026) states: “Surrogacy is illegal in Guatemala”. This page explains who says what; it is not legal advice and not a guide to arranging surrogacy.
Who says what
The sources do not use the same words. Read them side by side:
| Source | Date | What it says | Status of the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corte de Constitucionalidad, case 3590-2016 | 20 July 2017 (chapter, footnote 28) | Surrogacy is not regulated, but express prohibitive laws exist against a woman bearing a child and handing it over for money or other benefit without State control; the paid arrangement in the case was expressly prohibited | Quoted in Molina Morán (2023); the Court’s own text is not quoted here beyond the chapter |
| RENAP, Resolución UIP 189-2021 | 26 March 2021 | No law on assisted reproduction or surrogacy; the practice is not legally prohibited either; no internal rule to register parentage from a surrogacy agreement | Quoted in Molina Morán (2023) |
| Código Civil (Decreto-Ley 106), Art. 210 | Text as published by MCD | Outside marriage or a registered union, maternity is proved by the mere fact of birth | Primary text, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes copy |
| Judge Jennie Aimée Molina Morán | 2023 | A surrogacy contract, of any type, could not be legally valid or enforceable | Author’s own analysis (academic, secondary) |
| UK HM Passport Office | 1 July 2026 | Surrogacy is illegal in Guatemala | Guidance for UK passport staff; cites no statute |
The disagreement is narrower than it looks. RENAP’s answer and the Constitutional Court both start from the absence of a surrogacy law. The Court goes further on paid arrangements, finding them caught by existing prohibitions; RENAP’s statement that the practice is not prohibited comes with a warning of vulnerability for everyone involved; and the UK guidance reduces the position to one sentence without citing a law. None of them describes a lawful route.
The Constitutional Court: case 3590-2016
Molina Morán describes 3590-2016 as the only surrogacy case to have reached the Corte de Constitucionalidad. The facts, as her chapter sets them out: the gestational carrier agreed to insemination and to hand the child to the father for 30,000 quetzales at the birth; the child was born on 9 August 2011; and on 24 October 2013 the first-instance judge ordered criminal certification of the clinic doctor, the intended mother, the carrier and the father (for trafficking, forgery and other offences), and of RENAP’s director over two different birth certificates for the same child. On appeal (27 January 2014) the Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones de la Niñez y Adolescencia kept only the referral against the clinic and set the other referral orders aside.
The Court, as quoted in the chapter, said the parties had agreed to “la procreación y disposición de un niño, como si éste fuera” an object and not un sujeto de derechos, in exchange for a set economic benefit, which it described as expressly prohibited in Guatemalan law. It added that although surrogacy in the form of renting a womb is not regulated, “sí existen leyes prohibitivas expresas” against a woman conceiving a child and, for economic or other benefit, handing it over sin control del Estado to others to raise as their own.
The lower instance, the Corte Suprema, put the practical problem plainly in a passage the Court transcribed: “ni la prohibición expresa ni el silencio de la ley evitan que situaciones como la presente se realicen” in practice, and legal regulation is needed.
The prohibition the Court pointed to is the trafficking offence, Código Penal Art. 202 Ter, added by Decreto 9-2009 Art. 47. As quoted in the chapter, it punishes the recruitment, transport, transfer, retention, harbouring or receipt of persons for exploitation with 8 to 18 years in prison and a fine of Q300,000 to Q500,000; the listed forms of exploitation include “la venta de personas” and irregular adoption. Neither the Court, as quoted, nor the chapter cites a statute that names surrogacy itself as a crime.
RENAP: no rule to register parentage
Asked through an information request, RENAP answered in Resolución UIP 189-2021 (26 March 2021) that Guatemala has no general law on assisted reproduction and no regulation of surrogacy, that the practice is not legally prohibited either, and that therefore “existe una gran vulnerabilidad” for the parties to a surrogacy. It added that “en el RENAP no hay ninguna normativa interna” governing the requirements for, or the registration of, paternity or maternity arising from a surrogacy agreement.
The chapter’s author draws the consequence: “en el Renap no es posible, por falta de regulación”, to register legally the parentage of children born through surrogacy, even in another country where surrogacy is permitted. For ordinary birth registration see RENAP birth certificates and registering a birth abroad.
The birth mother is the mother
Código Civil Art. 210 provides that where filiation does not result from the parents’ marriage or registered union, it is established and proved “con relación a la madre, del solo hecho del nacimiento”, and for the father by voluntary recognition or a court ruling. Molina Morán summarises the rule: “la mujer que da a luz es la madre” of the baby.
Adoption does not close the gap. The author notes that the Ley de Adopciones (Decreto 77-2007, Art. 10, as she summarises it) prohibits direct adoption, so an intended mother cannot establish filiation with the newborn that way. For the adoption system itself, see can Americans adopt from Guatemala.
Contracts: valid or void?
The Código Civil sets the general rules. Art. 1251 requires, for a legal act to be valid, legal capacity, consent free of defects and a lawful object. Art. 1301 declares absolute nullity when the object is “contrario al orden público o contrario a leyes prohibitivas expresas”.
Molina Morán found no doctrinal study on the point and gives her own view: a surrogacy contract, comercial o altruista, traditional or gestational, could not, in her words, “ser considerado válido jurídicamente” (be considered legally valid), nor be enforceable, because under national law it “no estaría conforme al orden público y su objeto no sería lícito”. That is an author’s analysis, not a ruling.
The practice exists anyway
The English edition of the same chapter (Cambridge, Surrogacy in Latin America, online January 2024) says that “surrogacies of both types (traditional and gestational) are carried out in the country”, according to doctors interviewed for the research. The Spanish chapter counts one Guatemalan centre in the Red Latinoamericana de Reproducción Asistida and at least five assisted-reproduction clinics not accredited by it. A 2010 post by the Center for Genetics and Society, an advocacy group, reported that some of the same people who arranged international adoptions from Guatemala were acting as surrogacy brokers.
On legislation, the chapter found only one bill with any link to assisted reproduction in the Congreso’s records, iniciativa 2976 of 18 February 2004, to ban human cloning, and none on surrogacy, as of its check on 29 August 2021. A bill filed after that date is not excluded.
If you are an intended parent
Nothing in these sources describes a lawful route, and this page does not offer one. Before any agreement or payment:
- Speak to a Guatemalan family lawyer about filiation, RENAP registration and criminal exposure.
- Ask your own country’s consulate how it treats a child born in Guatemala through surrogacy, for citizenship and a passport. US citizens: US citizen services in Guatemala; British nationals: UK citizen services.
Sources
- Jennie Aimée Molina Morán, La gestación por subrogación en Guatemala, chapter 7 of La gestación por subrogación en América Latina, 2nd ed. (SCJN México / Tirant lo Blanch, 2023), pp. 217-237 — PDF (source of the Constitutional Court, Corte Suprema, RENAP and Código Penal quotations; read 9 November 2026)
- Same author, chapter on Guatemala in Surrogacy in Latin America (Cambridge, online January 2024) — abstract (read 9 November 2026)
- Código Civil, Decreto-Ley 106, Arts. 210, 1251, 1301 — Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes copy (read 9 November 2026)
- UK HM Passport Office, Guatemala knowledge base profile, published for Home Office staff on 1 July 2026 (read 9 November 2026)
- Center for Genetics and Society, blog post on surrogacy in Guatemala, 1 June 2010 (advocacy, context only; read 9 November 2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is surrogacy legal in Guatemala?
None of the sources below calls it legal, and they disagree on how to describe it. RENAP (2021), the Constitutional Court and the 2023 chapter quoted below all describe surrogacy as unregulated, and none of them cites a statute that names it. The Constitutional Court, in case 3590-2016 (as quoted in a 2023 chapter by family judge Jennie Aimée Molina Morán), said surrogacy is not regulated but that express prohibitive laws exist against a woman bearing a child and handing it over for money or other benefit without State control, and it described the paid arrangement in that case as expressly prohibited. RENAP, in a 2021 information-request answer quoted in the same chapter, said surrogacy is neither regulated nor legally prohibited, which leaves the parties in great vulnerability. The UK’s HM Passport Office guidance for its staff (1 July 2026) says surrogacy is illegal in Guatemala.
Who is the legal mother of a baby born to a surrogate in Guatemala?
The woman who gives birth. Código Civil Art. 210 says that, where filiation does not result from marriage or a registered union, it is established with respect to the mother by the mere fact of birth. Judge Molina Morán’s chapter draws the same conclusion: in Guatemala the woman who gives birth is the baby’s mother.
Can RENAP register the intended parents of a baby born through surrogacy?
RENAP said in Resolución UIP 189-2021 (26 March 2021, as quoted in Molina Morán’s chapter) that it has no internal rule on the requirements or the registration of parentage arising from a surrogacy agreement. The chapter’s author reads this as meaning RENAP cannot, for lack of regulation, register the parentage of children born through surrogacy even in another country where it is allowed.
Is a surrogacy contract enforceable in Guatemala?
In the view of Judge Molina Morán (her own analysis, 2023), no: a surrogacy contract, traditional or gestational, commercial or altruistic, could not be considered legally valid or enforceable, because it would not conform to public order and its object would not be lawful. The Código Civil requires a lawful object for a legal act to be valid (Art. 1251) and declares absolutely void an act whose object is contrary to public order or to express prohibitive laws (Art. 1301). The chapter names 3590-2016 as the only surrogacy case to have reached the Constitutional Court.
Can surrogacy in Guatemala lead to criminal charges?
In the one case that reached the Constitutional Court, 3590-2016, criminal referrals followed. The carrier agreed to hand the child to the father for 30,000 quetzales at birth; the child was born on 9 August 2011, and on 24 October 2013 the first-instance judge ordered criminal certification (referral to the criminal authorities) of the clinic doctor, the intended mother, the carrier and the father. The Constitutional Court pointed to the trafficking offence in Código Penal Art. 202 Ter (added by Decreto 9-2009 Art. 47), whose listed forms of exploitation include the sale of persons and irregular adoption, punished with 8 to 18 years in prison and a fine of Q300,000 to Q500,000. Neither the Court, as quoted, nor the chapter cites a statute that names surrogacy itself as a crime. On appeal (27 January 2014) the Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones de la Niñez y Adolescencia kept only the referral against the clinic and set the other referral orders aside.
What should intended parents do before considering Guatemala?
Speak to a Guatemalan family lawyer and to the consular section of their own country before any agreement or payment. RENAP said in 2021 that it has no internal rule for registering parentage from a surrogacy agreement (Judge Molina Morán reads this as meaning it cannot register it), and Código Civil Art. 210 establishes maternity by the fact of birth. Ask your own government how it would treat the child’s citizenship and passport.
