If you stop paying a surrogate mother, what happens to the fetus?If you're angry about the AIG scandal or Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, check out what's happening to the infertile couples and surrogate mothers involved in a California womb brokerage. It's a familiar tale of vanishing funds and defaulted obligations. But this time, the potential loss is bigger than property. It's pregnancy.Read the whole thing.
The good news is none of the surrogates are quitting. However, this situation presents a whole host of thorny legal, financial, and ethical issues that are not easy to deal with. If the intended parents can't pay the surrogate, who gets the baby at the end of the day?
This becomes particularly problematic if the surrogate does not want to keep the child. She would legally be prohibited from selling the baby. Would she be able to give it up for adoption to a third-party? Can she sue the genetic parents for payment? What if they are judgment-proof? What rights does the gestational mother have relative to the genetic mother? What about the father? Would he be treated as a sperm donor or held liable for child support? Does the father's legal standing change depending upon the decisions made by the gestational mother?
Why are visions of In re Baby M suddenly flashing through my head?
(HT Megan McArdle)
1 comment:
No. No no no no no no no!!!
Surrogates aren't "paid" to hand over a baby. Surrogates are compensated for pain and suffering, the trial that pregnancy and labor put her body through. Payments or no payments, that baby is not hers and the compensation recieved isn't for the baby, but rather a dollar sign "sorry for your pain", and upon birth will go with it's parents. California law is very clear on this aspect. Her recourse is to sue her intended parent(s) and/or the agency/escrow ( not that it would do much good) and that's it.
Post a Comment