Earlier this month New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the state’s 2021 budget, and, thanks to an additional measure inserted into the bill, signed the legalization of commercial surrogacy in the Empire State, effective February 15, 2021. This move leaves only three states where commercial surrogacy is legally prohibited, although, in many states, including Minnesota, commercial surrogacy resides in a legal grey area where it has not been declared legal or illegal, and surrogacy contracts have not been declared legal or illegal by the courts.

Commercial surrogacy commodifies women and children and poses significant pro-life concerns. In a commercial surrogacy arrangement, that is, when a woman is paid under contract to carry another couple’s child via IVF, the life and birth of a child is turned into a business transaction and pregnancy is reduced to a service rendered for cash, commodifying both the surrogate mother and the child she carries. Furthermore, under many surrogacy contracts, the couple may require that the surrogate mother undergo embryo reduction or require an abortion if birth defects are detected. 

Surrogate mothers face significant risks to both their physical and emotional well-being, and in some cases have died from complications. And yet, as commercial surrogacy has gained publicity and support thanks to celebrity couples, surrogate mothers are often treated by the media as if they do not even exist. Research has also shown that surrogacy arrangements are emotionally damaging to the children conceived via surrogacy.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, one of the co-sponsors of New York’s surrogacy measure, claims that this move “bring[s] New York in line with the needs of modern families.” If the needs of modern families require the legalization of an exploitative practice, then there is a serious problem. Equally troubling is the fact that this passed during a time that the public does not currently have access to the Capitol due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As Kathleen Gallagher of the New York Catholic Conference pointed out, “[S]uch a critical legal and moral decision for our state should have been made behind the closed doors of a Capitol shut off to the public.”

Infertility is a heartbreaking issue, but commercial surrogacy is not the answer. Commercial surrogacy harms the surrogate mothers and children involved. Legalizing such an arrangement most certainly should not happen behind closed doors when the people of New York have limited access to their legislators.

(Image: Flickr-Pat Arnow, CC BY-SA 2.0)