Albany, N.Y., Feb 5, 2019 / 20:00 pm
Just days after expanding legal abortion up to the point of birth, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a law that would lift the ban on surrogacy contracts in the state of New York.
If passed, the law would allow New Yorkers to pay a woman to carry to term a child conceived through in-vitro fertilization. It would not allow a surrogate mother to use her own eggs, and therefore be related biologically to the child.
Under current law, surrogacy contracts in the state are punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or by a felony charge.
Cuomo told the New York Post Feb. 1 that the new law would help to update the "antiquated" surrogacy ban laws which "frankly are discriminatory against all couples struggling with fertility, same sex or otherwise." Surrogacy contracts have been banned in New York since 1992.