Worlds, and Wombs, Collide in Kansas Bill Criminalizing Surrogate Pregnancy Contracts
By Patricia J. Williams,
The Nation
| 02. 05. 2014
In late January, Kansas State Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook introduced a bill that would have criminalized the use of surrogate contracts in pregnancy and imposed a $10,000 fine and up to a year in jail for anyone participating in such a transaction. The effort was quickly abandoned amid a storm that included pro-lifers battling pro-lifers, invocations of God having hired the Virgin Mary as a surrogate, sonograms performed live in a senate committee and a host of other risible posturings.
If the bill hadn’t been body-slammed into the dust by some of the sillier statements of its chief proponent (Pilcher-Cook asserted, for example, that surrogacy creates children who are “not going to have either a biological mother, biological father or both”), the discussion might have garnered more attention. The laws regarding surrogacy are a jumble of inconsistent public policies, free-market contracts, civil interventions and criminal sanctions. However incoherent the Kansas attempt, there’s a serious question as to whether individually drafted private contracts are sufficient to settle questions of intended parenthood, or if the “best interests of the child” standards governing custody... see more
Related Articles
By Ian Sample , The Guardian | 06.22.2022
More than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening diseases, according to a survey.
Commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a fertility and genomics charity, the Ipsos poll...
By Fiorella Valdesolo, WSJ Magazine | 06.08.2022
“Where is the we?” It’s the question that was the driving force for Vida Delrahim and Ronit Menashe when they created WeNatal, a new brand of prenatal supplements that aims to be more inclusive. In the process of trying...
By Alison Motluk , The Globe and Mail | 06.18.2022
As you drop your dad’s card into the mailbox, or dial him for a quick chat, or arrange a little get-together to mark the day, spare a thought for the people who will find this Father’s Day agonizing.
Spare a...
By Antony Starza-Allen, Progress Educational Trust | 06.13.2022
The question of what is a 'permitted embryo' under the legislation governing assisted reproduction in the UK has received increasing scrutiny as technological progress challenges the concept of embryohood. As illustrated at Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s event, 'Fertility...