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60 La. L. Rev. 809 (1999-2000)
A Comparative Analysis of Surrogacy Law in the United States and Great Britain - A Proposed Model Statute for Louisiana

handle is hein.journals/louilr60 and id is 823 raw text is: COMMENTS A Comparative Analysis of Surrogacy Law in the United States and Great Britain-A Proposed Model Statute for Louisiana I. INTRODUCTION Surrogacy has become an increasingly popular alternative for infertile couples in the United States and Great Britain. With increased use, surrogacy arrangements are also becoming more socially accepted. But many controversial issues surround surrogate motherhood. The surrogate mother's desire to keep the child is only one of the many ethical and social issues involved in surrogacy arrangements. Other issues include: moral beliefs regarding the right to have one woman bear a child for another, the enforceability of a surrogacy contract, proper payments to the surrogate mother, and how to decide custody of the child if a dispute arises. There are two types of surrogacy: traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. A traditional surrogacy arrangement occurs when a couple contracts with a surrogate mother to have the intentional father's sperm2 artificially inseminated into the surrogate.3 The surrogate will use her own egg, thus she will be genetically related to the child. The spouse of the intentional father is considered the intentional mother of the child born to the surrogate. An example of traditional surrogacy can be found as far back in time as the Book of Genesis. The birth of Ishmael resulted from Sara asking her servant, Hagar, to bear a child for her and Abraham because of Sara's infertility., The second type of surrogacy, called gestational surrogacy, can take place several ways. The intentional mother can use her own egg and the intentional Copyright 2000. by LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW. I. The term surrogate refers to a woman who gives birth to a child for another. Although surrogate may also be used to describe a woman who raises a child for someone else, this article will refer to a surrogate who bears a child for another. 2. The term intentional refers to the parents who are contracting with the surrogate mother to become parents of the child, that is, the couple who intend to become the parents of the child. 3. A traditional surrogacy arrangement occurs through artificial insemination. Through the advances of modem technology, it is not necessary for the surrogate mother to have intercourse with the intentional father. The sunogate mother will be artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intentional father. 4. Jenn Z., Surrogate Mothers Online. Definition and Types of Surrogacy (1997-1999) (last visited Sept. 9, 1999) <http://www.sunromomsonfine.conVarficles/define.hti>; Janet L Dolgin, Defining The Family: Law, Technology, and Reproduction in an Uneasy Age 64 (N.Y. Univ. Press 1997). 5. Genesis 16:1-2 (King James). 6. Dolgin, supra note 4, at 64; Julia J. Tate, Surrogacy: What Progress Since Hagar, Bilhah, and ZilpahI, 1994 A.B.A. Sec. Fam. L Rep.; Genesis 16:1-2 (King James): Now Sara Abraham's wife bore him no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sara said unto Abraham, behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid. it may be that I may obtain children by her.

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