Conservatives Oppose Paid Surrogacy
The Conservative Party understands that most married couples are eager to have children, especially children who are genetically linked to them. For some couples, this has not been possible due to infertility or the inability of same-sex couples to reproduce. Now, 21st century medical advancements have made it possible for these couples to start families. However, in using these medical advances, certain moral and ethical issues become apparent.
S.2071-B (Hoylman)/A.1071-C (Paulin) seeks to resolve such matters, but it fails to address how a surrogate pregnancy benefits the child. In creating a system that reduces a women’s reproductive capabilities to the status of a mere contracted service, the bill denigrates the role of motherhood and the importance of even the prenatal connection in a child’s life.
Prior to the medical advances that allow for in vitro fertilization and surrogate pregnancy, most people who could not have biological children would adopt. For the protection of the children, these non-related couples were required to go through background checks and other screening measures before the law allowed them to adopt. No such screening or background checks are required under the proposed paid surrogacy legislation, even though in many of these situations there would be no physical relation to the resulting child. Simply put, the proposed legislation places the desire of adults above the best interests of children.
Finally, in most cases, it is a wealthy couple seeking a woman’s womb to rent for the duration of the pregnancy; a woman who is most normally not a wealthy person. This socio-economic imbalance leaves the woman in a disadvantaged and potentially exploited situation. While it is true that the legislation requires that the woman have her own attorney, under the proposed bill, that attorney is paid for by those seeking her service. This is an inherent legal conflict of interest.
The Conservative Party urges the State Legislature, like so many other countries around the world, to reject paid surrogacy.