The article “Surrogacy is a Mess” by Jessica Grose in Slate (August 6, 2014) raises some important issues in the area of gestational surrogacy and surrogacy law but the title of this article is a shameful mischaracterization. Surrogacy is not a mess. And really, it is far from a mess. There are so many babies being born in totally wonderful situations to gestational surrogates who are incredibly wonderful women, and to intended parents who are positively deserving of having the children they so desire.
The fact that such wanted and loved children are being brought into the world is really a very great and positive aspect of our culture. These children will be brought up in loving homes. They will be given opportunities to be educated and to become productive and contributing members of our society. How can this not be a good thing for the world?
Further, surrogacy in the United States is generally managed with care and expertise. If intended parents have the information and dedication to choose a professional and experienced team to support them and their gestational surrogate through the journey, then the process will be emotionally and legally safe and sound. Lawyers and doctors who are experienced in the area of surrogacy will take great care to make sure that gestational surrogates are screened, that they are stable and sound, and that they are committed to having a healthy pregnancy as they did with their own children.
Yes, going to countries outside of the United States for surrogacy may provide some financial savings, but at what other costs? At the cost of huge risk, not knowing how the country will legally treat the children, not knowing if laws will change making if difficult or even impossible to obtain citizenship in your home country and return home. But this is not the case in the United States.
Here, in the U.S., many states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, just to name a few in the Northeast, have very good laws to validate and enforce surrogacy contracts, and to establish the legal parentage of the intended parents.
The Baby Gammy case in Thailand and the facts around the Australian intended parents of this baby are far from clear, but one thing is clear, and that is that the law in Thailand is in total flux, making it perilous for anyone to go to Thailand for surrogacy. There may be good doctors and clinics, but there also may be exploitation of women, as well as unresolved issues of parentage and citizenship for parents and babies.
Surrogacy may present a host of messy issues as the Slate article states, but surrogacy in Thailand as a result of one sensational case does not make all surrogacy a mess. As a lawyer, I know all too well how careful and diligent we must be in attending to and representing clients who are seeking surrogacy advice and who need to have children through surrogacy. There are many lawyers in the United States who understand this and who do wonderful, professional and ethical legal work to assist both intended parents and surrogates. For a list of such lawyers, look at the information in the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys.