Monday, January 04, 2010

New Jersey Rules for Gestational Carrier

If you follow my tweets (@surrogacylawyer) you know about the Superior Court judge in New Jersey's ruling that the gestational carrier who bore twins for her brother is now their legal mother.

As a follow-up, there is great piece today in the Huffington Post by Jacob M. Appel about this ruling and how New Jersey missed an opportunity to not only move away from the Baby M case and differentiate between traditional and gestational surrogacy, but also to allow women to make the decision if surrogacy is right for them. As Mr Appel says so eloquently, no one argues that men are being degraded or demeaned if they decided to become sperm donors. Why are surrogates any different?

And, if men were able to become surrogates, they would be applauded as entrepreneurs. I agree with Mr. Appel that women are perfectly able to make the decision for themselves and should be allowed to do so in every state, not just California, among others.

What say you?