The Public Policy Response to Surrogate Motherhood Agreements

Abstract

Commercial surrogate motherhood arrangements are where a woman agrees to bear a child for a man who is not her husband for a fee. The issues involved in such arrangements came to a head in 1987 when Mary Beth Whitehead contracted to bear a child and changed her mind and decided not to surrender the child. The result was a call to legislatures to reform the law to address the matter, whether by upholding such contracts or by outlawing them. This article addresses the proposals in New York and their efficacy based on the law of contracts, and adoption law.