NYS Legislative Agenda: Enact the Child-Parent Security Act
Enact the Child-Parent Security Act and legalize compensated gestational surrogacy in New York
New York should streamline its inconsistent and uncertain approach to donor conception and establish a framework for compensated gestational surrogacy, joining nearly every other state in the U.S. that permits that practice. Currently 48 states and the District of Columbia permit the practice of compensated gestational surrogacy, by statute, case law, or judicial practice. The developments in reproductive medicine, the transition from traditional to gestational surrogacy as the prevailing practice, and the experience of other states lay the foundation for New York to revisit the legal treatment of the practice. The City Bar supports legislation that would: (1) streamline the legal status of children conceived through sperm, egg, and embryo donation and their intended parents by permitting a donor to waive his/her parental rights in writing; (2) permit a family, whether two parents or one, married or unmarried, different-sex or same-sex, to obtain a judgment of parentage clarifying the status of the child, the intended parent(s), and the donor; and (3) replace New York’s statutory ban on compensated surrogacy with a comprehensive scheme for recognizing gestational surrogacy agreements (i.e., where the surrogate has not provided the egg used to conceive), while protecting the interests of the person acting as surrogate and the intended parents.
OUTCOME
Adopted as part of the FY 2021 Enacted Budget, A.9506-B / S.7506-B (Part L) – April 3, 2020
