The ban on commercial surrogacy has now been lifted! While this is not a common topic in divorce mediation, this change in Family Law is sufficiently momentous as to command attention. On February 15, 2021 New York State passed into law compensated gestational surrogacy. Now there is no prohibition on creating an embryo outside the womb of a woman and then transferring the embryo to another woman to carry and give birth to that child, who is then legally given to “intended parents” as defined in the statute.

It is to be noted that it remains against the law for the woman giving birth to have a genetic connection with the child and then transfer the child to another. Compensated “traditional surrogacy” is still prohibited in New York State. There is no prohibition if the surrogacy does not involve payment.

This New York law is very detailed and indeed broader than other states in many particulars.

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