Genetic Mother Loses Her Bid to Be Named on Birth Certificate
By Andrew Keshner
New York Law Journal
November 17, 2010
Excerpt:
“The Court is cognizant of the difficult position of the plaintiffs and is sympathetic to their arguments. However, the Court is constrained to follow the law as it currently exists,” Justice Cohalan wrote in Feigenbaum v. New York State Department of Health, 19430-2009.
Ms. Feigenbaum and her husband were joined in the action by Carly Macomber, the surrogate, or “gestational mother,” and her husband.
J. Herbie DiFonzo, a family law professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs at Hofstra University School of Law, said the case underscored a gap between science and law.
“Reproductive technology in the last generation changed so much that we separated child bearing from genetics, but our legal system hasn’t,” he said.
There are a “checkerboard” of surrogacy laws around the country, according to Mr. DiFonzo.
