Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-gr6zb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-14T23:05:51.972Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethics, Law, and Commercial Surrogacy: A Call for Uniformity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Katherine Drabiak ,
Carole Wegner ,
Valita Fredland  and
Paul R. Helft
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In July of 2005, Indianapolis witnessed streaming headlines in the local newspaper attempting to distill the confusion surrounding the adoption of two premature infants by an adoptive parent. Thirteen articles and opinion pieces introduced the public to a murky legal and ethical transaction. Stating his overwhelming desire to have children, a New Jersey schoolteacher hired the services of a local attorney. The attorney procured a South Carolina woman for a compensated gestational surrogacy contract. Under the contract, the surrogate and the attorney would meet in Indiana to complete the execution of the contract and transfer parental rights via adoption after the birth of the twins.

Type
Independent
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , Summer 2007 , pp. 300 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

This paper only addresses commercial surrogacy defined where the surrogate is compensated above reasonable expenses, and agreements are facilitated by reproductive services agencies such as medical or legal facilities. All mention of surrogacy throughout this paper refers to this definition. All facts mentioned in this article with respect to case example were derived from the Indianapolis Star coverage unless otherwise noted.Google Scholar
Corcoran, K., “Adoption Deal Questioned,” Indianapolis Star, July 31, 2005, at A1.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.; Holladay, R., “Lawyer: N.J. Man Isn't Biological Father,” Indianapolis Star, August 7, 2005, at B1.Google Scholar
Corcoran, K., “Adoption Deal Questioned,” Indianapolis Star, July 31, 2005. The premature twins were being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during this incident. According to the Indianapolis Star, it would not be medically advisable to remove the twins from the NICU because one twin was breathing with the assistance of oxygen.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Corcoran, K., “Judge Asks Feds to Review Surrogacy,” Indianapolis Star, August 2, 2005, at A1. Each element listed is based on a local judge's professional opinion of the case as discussed in the Indianapolis Star.Google Scholar
IC 31-20-1-1 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corcoran, K., “Judge Asks Feds to Review Surrogacy,” Indianapolis Star, August 2, 2005; Corcoran, K., “Adoption Deal Questioned,” Indianapolis Star, July 31, 2005, at A1.Google Scholar
M.C.L.A. 722.859 (1988); A.C.A. § 9-10-201 (1989); see also A.C.A. 9-9-207 (2005).Google Scholar
Ciccarelli, J. C. and Ciccarelli, J. K., “The Legal Aspects of Parental Rights in Assisted Reproductive Technology,” Journal of Social Issues 61, no. 1 (2005): 127–137, at 132.Google Scholar
Courts have adjudicated varied questions regarding the legal status of the contract; the enforceability of the contract; public policy issues; parentage determinations; and the best interest of the resulting child; they arrived at different results. See Johnson v. Calvert, 851 P.2d 776 (1993); Surrogate Parenting Associates, Inc. v. Com. Ex. Rel. Armstrong, 704 S.W.2d 209 (1986); Doe v. Attorney General, 487 N.W.2d 484 (1992).Google Scholar
A.C.A. 9-10-201 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
V.T.C.A., Family Code § 161.103 (2003).Google Scholar
IC 31-20-1-1 to IC 31-20-1-3 (1997); KRS § 199.590 (2005).Google Scholar
IC 31-9-2-127 (1997).Google Scholar
IC 31-20-1-1 (1997). Declaring enforcement of the terms of the contract as against public policy is distinct from classifying the surrogacy contract itself against public policy as implemented by the Louisiana, Michigan, New York, and Washington statutes. By stating the entire contract is against public policy, this suggests a more fervent statement of legislative opinion.Google Scholar
KRS § 199.590 (2005).Google Scholar
Surrogate Mothers, Inc., available at <http://www.surrogatemothers.com> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
IC 31-20-1-1 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23; Surrogate Parenting Associates, Inc., available at <http://www.babies-by-levin.com> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
Neb.Rev.St. § 25–21, 200 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
LSA- R.S. 9:2713 (1987); M.C.L.A. 722.855 (1988); McKinney's DLR § 122 (1992); West's RWCA 26.26.240 (1989).Google Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23; Surrogate Parenting Associates, Inc., supra note 25.Google Scholar
M.C.L.A. 722.859 (1988).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
McKinney's DLR § 123 (1992).Google Scholar
West's RWCA 26.26.250 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surrogacy Specialists of America, available at <http://www.ssa-agency.com> (last visited April 11, 2007); Reproductive Options, L.L.C., available at <http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]> (last visited July 12, 2006).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007);+Reproductive+Options,+L.L.C.,+available+at++(last+visited+July+12,+2006).>Google Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23; Fertility Futures, available at <http://www.surrogateweb.com> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Spar, D., The Baby Business (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006): at 77.Google Scholar
Shrybman Law Offices, P.C., available at <www.surrogacy-solutions.com> (last visited July 12, 2006).+(last+visited+July+12,+2006).>Google Scholar
Edelmann, R. J., “Surrogacy: The Psychological Issues,” Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 22, no. 2 (2004): 123–136, at 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23.Google Scholar
Ragone, H., Surrogate Motherhood: Conception in the Heart (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994): at 57; Ciccarelli, J. C. and Beckman, L. J., “Navigating Rough Waters: An Overview of Psychological Aspects of Surrogacy,” Journal of Social Issues 61, no. 1 (2005): 21-43, at 30.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Jadva, V. et al., “Surrogacy: The Experiences of Surrogate Mothers,” Human Reproduction 18, no. 10 (2003): 2196–2204, at 2199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Ragone, supra note 41, at 57; see also Williams-Jones, B., “Commercial Surrogacy and the Redefinition of Motherhood,” Journal of Philosophy, Science & Law 2 (2002), available at <http://www.psljournal.com/archives/papers/comsur_williamsjones.cfm> (last visited July 18, 2006).Google Scholar
Corcoran, K., “Surrogate Mom Runs Day Care in S.C.,” Indianapolis Star, July 31, 2005, at A15.Google Scholar
See Ragone, supra note 41, at 52.Google Scholar
Goslinga-Roy, G. M., “Body Boundaries, Fiction of the Female Self: An Ethnographic Perspective on Power, Feminism, and the Reproductive Technologies,” Feminist Studies 26, no. 1 (2000): 113–141, at 123.Google Scholar
See Ragone, supra note 41, at 72.Google Scholar
See Williams-Jones, supra note 44.Google Scholar
See van den Akker, infra note 52, at 150; see also Ciccarelli, and Beckman, supra note 41, at 32.Google Scholar
See Williams-Jones, supra note 44.Google Scholar
van den Akker, O., “Genetic and Gestational Surrogate Mothers' Experience of Surrogacy,” Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 21, no. 2 (2003): 145–161, at 156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Ciccarelli, and Beckman, supra note 41, at 31.Google Scholar
The Fertility Institutes, available at <http://www.fertility-docs.com> (last visited April 11, 2007); see Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23.+(last+visited+April+11,+2007);+see+Surrogate+Mothers,+Inc.,+supra+note+23.>Google Scholar
See Fertility Futures, supra note 35.Google Scholar
See Williams-Jones, supra note 44.Google Scholar
See van den Akker, supra note 52, at 146; see also Ragone, supra note 41, at 62.Google Scholar
See Ragone, supra note 41, at 52.Google Scholar
Id., at 59Google Scholar
See Jadva, et al., supra note 43, at 2199.Google Scholar
See Ragone, supra note 41, at 5.Google Scholar
Affordable Surrogacy Options, available at <http://www.affordablesurrogacyoptions.com> (last visited July 12, 2006). Between the time the paper was drafted and final review for publication, the website had been taken down.+(last+visited+July+12,+2006).+Between+the+time+the+paper+was+drafted+and+final+review+for+publication,+the+website+had+been+taken+down.>Google Scholar
Law Offices of Diane Michelsen, P.C., available at <http://www.familyformation.com> (last visited July 12, 2006).+(last+visited+July+12,+2006).>Google Scholar
See Surrogacy Specialists of America, supra note 34; Robert Nichols Esq., P.C., at <http://www.robertnicholsesq.com/surrogates.html> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23.Google Scholar
Loving Donation, available at <http://www.lovingdonation.com> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23; id., Fertility Futures, supra note 35.Google Scholar
See Surrogate Mothers, Inc., supra note 23.Google Scholar
See Fertility Futures, supra note 35.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
See Surrogacy Specialists of America, supra note 34.Google Scholar
See The Fertility Institutes, supra note 54.Google Scholar
See Affordable Surrogacy Options, supra note 62; The Fertility Institutes, supra note 54; Shrybman Law Offices, P.C., supra note 38.Google Scholar
Everything Surrogacy, available at <http://www.everythingsurrogacy.com> (last visited April 11, 2007).+(last+visited+April+11,+2007).>Google Scholar
See Law Offices of Diane Michelsen, P.C., supra note 63.Google Scholar
See Surrogacy Specialists of America, supra note 34; see also Reproductive Options, L.L.C., supra note 34.Google Scholar
See Reproductive Options, L.L.C., supra note 34.Google Scholar
See The Fertility Institutes, supra note 54.Google Scholar
See Surrogate Parenting Associates, Inc., supra note 25.Google Scholar
42 U.S.C.A. § 274e (1988); see also 18 U.S.C.A. § 2421 (1998) and 18 U.S.C.A. § 2422 (2003), which outline interstate regulation of prostitution, another business venture that compensates the service of the body.Google Scholar
42 U.S.C.A. § 274e (1988).Google Scholar
See Spar, supra at 71.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
M.C.L.A. 722.859 (1988).Google Scholar
West's F.S.A. § 742.15 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See The Fertility Institutes, supra note 54.Google Scholar