State OKs pay for surrogates
ALBANY — New York legalized paid gestational surrogacy Thursday as lawmakers approved a sweeping budget package containing the measure.
Gay and infertile couples in the Empire State can now enter into a contract and pay a woman to carry a baby to term through in-vitro fertilization.
Gov. Cuomo made the measure a priority over the past year and a half as New York remained one of only three states that explicitly banned the practice.
Pushback from an unlikely combination of religious organizations and women’s groups concerned about the potential exploitation of surrogates, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, preceded the bill’s failure to gain enough support in the Assembly during the last legislative session.
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale), who first introduced a bill to lift the ban back in 2012, applauded the inclusion in the budget.
“Today, we bring New York law in line with the needs of modern families, while simultaneously enacting the strongest protections in the nation for surrogates,” she said.
The law’s stipulations include “ensuring the unfettered right of surrogates to make their own health-care decisions, including whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy.”
It also ensures that surrogates have access to comprehensive health insurance and independent legal counsel of their choosing, paid for by the intended parents.
The measure also streamlines the “second-parent adoption” process by requiring only a single visit to court to recognize legal parenthood while the child is in utero. Once all of the requirements set forth in the law are met, the intended parents can seek an “Order of Parentage” from a court, which becomes effective immediately upon birth.
The legislation was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), who himself is a father to two children born through an out-of-state gestational surrogacy arrangement.
“My husband and I had our two daughters through surrogacy—but we had to travel 3,000 miles away to California in order to do it,” Hoylman said. “As a gay dad, I’m thrilled parents like us and people struggling with infertility will finally have the chance to create their own families through surrogacy here in New York.
“The passage of legislation that will help New Yorkers create families is a signal of hope during these dark and uncertain times for our state,” he added.