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Four years ago, Donald Robinson Hollingsworth and Sean Hollingsworth, a gay couple living in New Jersey, set in motion their plan to become first-time parents.
They contracted with a woman to carry an embryo from donated eggs and sperm from Sean Hollingsworth. The surrogate mother, Donald Hollingsworth's sister Angelia Robinson, gave birth to twins in 2006. A legal issue soon arose: Did Ms. Robinson have parental rights over the twins?
She had signed a pre-birth agreement indicating she would relinquish her parental rights, but later sued after deciding she wanted to help raise the twins. In December, New Jersey state Judge Francis Schultz ruled that Ms. Robinson is a parent.
Surrogacy remains a relatively uncommon pathway to parenthood, in part because it still rests on a somewhat shaky legal ground in parts of the country. Eight states have passed laws prohibiting some or all surrogacy contracts, while courts in other states have refused to enforce such contracts. Ten states have passed laws expressly authorizing surrogacy if certain conditions are met, according to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think...