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Latest Surrogacy News
Many states lack laws addressing surrogacy
Sunday, July 18, 2004
John Horton The Plain Dealer
A Pennsylvania judge
turned to his state's laws when asked to handle a
custody dispute between a woman who served as a
gestational surrogate and a Kirtland college professor
who is the biological father of the triplets she
delivered.
The judge did not find
much help.
Pennsylvania is among
an estimated 19 states with no laws guiding surrogacy.
Erie County Common Pleas Judge Shad Connelly bemoaned
that fact in an April opinion handed down in the case
that pits surrogate Danielle Bimber, 30, against James
Flynn, 62.
He urged the
legislature "to address the issue as soon as possible to
prevent more complicated cases."
In most of the country,
surrogacy agreements operate within a rickety legal
substructure built on court cases and varying state
statutes. Several states, including Michigan, ban
surrogacy contracts.
Ohio allows surrogacy,
though there are no statutes that deal with the issue,
said Ellen Essig, a Cincinnati lawyer who has handled
more than 100 surrogacy cases. Every county deals with
surrogacy births and the subsequent custody claims
differently, she said.
A 1994 court case out
of Summit County provides the primary guidance across
the state, Essig said. She does not anticipate Ohio's
conservative leadership adopting surrogacy statutes.
"The law just doesn't keep up with advances in medical
science," she said.
The case between Bimber
and Flynn is being watched across the nation. Several
surrogacy advocates derided Connelly's April ruling that
established Bimber as the legal mother of the triplets.
Bimber has no biological connection to the boys, who
were created from donor eggs fertilized by Flynn's
sperm.
The egg donor described
as a Texas college student and identified in court
papers as J.R. also has sued seeking custody. A judge
has ordered that her case in Summit County be sealed.
The legal ordeal over
the triplets is an aberration, said Shirley Zager, a
parent through surrogacy who also serves as director of
the Illinois-based Organization of Parents Through
Surrogacy. The surrogacy process, which she estimated
has resulted in 22,000 births since the mid-1970s, is
not broken, she said.
Zager criticized the
actions of everyone involved in the Pennsylvania case,
particularly the judge and Bimber, who she said
overstepped her responsibilities as a surrogate by
taking the children.
"There are three kids
getting hurt here," Zager said. "They're the only angels
in this mess."
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