On April 3, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the New York State Child Parent Security Act (the “Act”), which reverses New York’s decades-long ban on compensated surrogacy. The Act, which will take effect on February 15, 2021, is a landmark bill that will provide many New York residents legally protected access to certain assisted reproductive measures, including surrogacy, to finally expand their families where they otherwise might not have been able to.
Below are a few of the important highlights of the Act:
- overturns New York’s ban on compensated gestational surrogacy;
- amends the current laws regarding judgments of parentage of children conceived
through assisted reproduction or pursuant to surrogacy agreements; - legally establishes a child’s relationship to his or her parents where a child is conceived
through assisted reproduction including but not limited to artificial insemination,
donation of gametes, donation of embryos, and in vitro fertilization; - establishes procedures for obtaining judgment of parentage for intended parents of a
child conceived through assisted reproduction and a child conceived pursuant to a
surrogacy agreement; - establishes requirements for enforceable surrogacy agreements, eligibility criteria to
enter into a surrogacy agreement, grounds for termination of a surrogacy agreement,
and establishment of parentage under a surrogacy agreement; - establishes guidelines for payment to donors and persons acting as surrogates
including reimbursement, and terms of compensation; and - provides a Surrogates’ Bill of Rights regarding health and welfare decisions,
independent legal counsel, health insurance and medical costs, counseling, life
insurance and termination of surrogacy agreement.
Read Full Surrogacy Alert (May 2020)
We understand first hand how challenging the surrogacy journey can be to navigate. If you have questions about the legal process please don’t hesitate to contact Jamie Batt or Elizabeth DiPirro