The Cuomo administration is weighing whether to lift the ban on commercial surrogacy in New York — a top priority of gay-rights advocates following the legalization of same-sex marriage, The Post has learned.
The governor’s Task Force on Life and the Law is quietly looking at lifting the prohibition, which has been in place since 1993.
“Gestational surrogate pregnancy contracts should be a viable option for potential parents. I don’t have moral qualms with the practice,” said Valerie Guttman Koch, an adviser to the task force, who confirmed that the panel is advising Cuomo on commercial surrogacy.
A state law would have to be approved by the Legislature and Cuomo to lift the ban on surrogacy contracts.
A bill called the Child-Parent Security Act, which has been introduced by state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester), would legalize surrogacy through gestational pregnancies, in which a woman is paid to go through the pregnancy and deliver a child who is not genetically related — a practice opponents slam as “womb for rent.”
In this process, the pregnant woman, or carrier, does not use her own biological eggs. Instead, she is artificially impregnated with someone’s else’s egg and sperm through in vitro fertilization. She then hands the baby over to the legal parents after birth.
The proposal’s chances increase if Cuomo throws his support behind it.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in June vetoed a bill that would have legalized commercial surrogacy in the Garden State.
The ban has forced same-sex couples and infertile straight couples to travel out of state for the procedure, which can cost more than $100,000.
“Things have certainly shifted in terms of recognition of gay marriage,” said Nathan Schaefer, director of the New York Empire State Pride agenda, which supports lifting the ban. “There’s interest from more and more couples to pursue gestational surrogacy as an option to have children.”
Opponents claim gestational pregnancy exploits women and shows that modern medicine has run amok.
“Women didn’t get this far to be treated like breeding animals,” said Jennifer Lahl of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.
“We try to get a mother and a baby to bond,” Lahl continued. “We’re against ripping the baby from the mother the moment he leaves the womb. It’s not good for the child.”
Supporters of surrogacy complain that New York’s law is outdated and discriminates against couples who want to have children.
The ban was put into place after the infamous “Baby M” case in New Jersey, when surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead reneged on a paid baby contract after she was inseminated with a man’s sperm and gave birth. The courts then invalidated the contract.
But in that case, Whitehead was the biological mother because her own eggs were used.
With medical advances, nearly all test-tube surrogate births today are done through gestational pregnancy.