Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T23:23:45.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Response of Professor Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Martha A. Field*
Affiliation:
School of Law, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Get access

Extract

As Professor Hill says, there is one important respect in which he and I agree with each other and disagree with what most states would do today. Faced with a surrogacy arrangement involving a dispute over custody, most state courts would decide the dispute on its own facts, according to the court's view about which parents seemed best for the child. Hill and I both stress that custody battles should be avoided, that parties should not have to go to court to find out who will prevail, and that courts should not decide disputes by comparing the parental characteristics of the particular parties. Instead courts or legislatures should formulate a rule of law that predetermines which party will receive custody in the event of a dispute.

Type
Further Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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

“Is this child Matthew or Michael?” (1990) Chicago Tribune. September 25, p. C-18.Google Scholar
Field, M. (1990). Surrogate Motherhood, expanded edition. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
In the Matter of Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 1988), reversing in part 525 A.2d 1128 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1987).Google Scholar
Keane, N. & Breo, D. (1981). The Surrogate Mother. New York: Everest House.Google Scholar
Mydans, S.“Surrogate Denied Custody of Child.” New York Times, October 23, 1990, p. A-14.Google Scholar
Peterson, I.“Baby M Trial Splits Ranks of Feminists.” New York Times, February 24, 1987, pp. B-1, B-2.Google Scholar
Pierce, W. (1984). “Survey of State Activity regarding Surrogate Motherhood.” Family Law Reporter 11:3001–04.Google Scholar
Project IMPACT (1987). Annual Report.Google Scholar