N.J. woman must adopt baby born through artificial insemination of a surrogate

[no_hypocrisy]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/nj_womans_case_exposes_laws_in.html


She has a birth certificate identifying her as the mother of her 19-month-old son. But because she has no biological or genetic connection to the child, no court in New Jersey will recognize her as the mother.

The boy, conceived with a donor egg and carried by a surrogate, is not the son of the woman in the eyes of the law because she did not give birth to him and has no genetic link to him, an appellate court declared last month. If she wants be named the child’s mother, she must adopt him, the court said.

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Cofsky says that’s discrimination. Under the state’s parentage laws, a husband is always presumed to be the father of a baby even if his sperm isn’t used for conception, he said. But a wife who doesn’t use her egg or her body for the pregnancy is never the presumed to be the mother. Instead, she has to adopt the baby, a process that can take months and cost up to $6,000, he said.


"The law says a mother has to be genetic, biological or adoptive," Cofsky said. "A father doesn’t have to be any of those."

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