Asking New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin to Withdraw Support for Commercial Surrogacy Bill

The letter below was drafted, circulated, and sent to New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). In it, a host of leaders and activists in the movement for gender, racial, and economic justice ask Assemblywoman Paulin to withdraw her support for a bill seeking to legalize commercial surrogacy in the state of New York. It is a powerful example of people coming together from diverse backgrounds to make common cause against surrogacy.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin
700 White Plains Rd.
Suite 252
Scarsdale, NY 10583

Dear Assemblywoman Paulin,

We, the undersigned leaders and activists in the movement for gender, racial, and economic justice, respectfully urge you to withdraw your support of SB00017A/AB06959, which would legalize reproductive surrogacy contracts and the reproductive surrogacy industry in New York State. Our opposition to this bill emerges from our deep concern of the legalization of surrogacy contracts. We believe that the surrogacy industry in our state will harm the physical and psychological health of the most marginalized women in our State—women in conditions of poverty who disproportionately have histories of abuse and discrimination, including on the basis of gender and race—and will incentivize and unleash a ruthless industry to profit from their exploitation.

Many of the undersigned have a long, productive history of partnering with you to protect the basic human rights of women and girls in New York State and holds you in high esteem. While we know you to be a passionate advocate for the rights of women and girls and feel certain that your sponsorship of the bill to legalize surrogacy in New York State is well intended, we believe that you may not have at your fingertips comprehensive information about the magnitude of harm that this bill, if enacted into law, would inflict on the most economically vulnerable women in our state. We are convinced that if passed, this bill will legitimize the reproductive trafficking of women in New York State, open the door wide to the mass exploitation of women in consumer-driven contract pregnancies in our State, and ultimately render New York State a global destination for reproductive tourism.

Reproductive surrogacy creates risks to the physical health and well-being of women. In New York’s 2018 Report on the Status of Women and Girls, a key platform is reducing maternal mortality and improving women’s health. Legalizing and legitimizing reproductive surrogacy undermines these crucially important goals. A recent report on 124 surrogate mothers showed that surrogate pregnancies and births “had significantly higher obstetrical complications, including gestational diabetes, hypertension, use of amniocentesis, placenta previa, antibiotic requirement during labor, and cesarean section.” These statistics translate into more high-risk pregnancies and longer hospitalization stays for both surrogate mothers and the infants born, who face higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weights.

The relationship between the surrogate mother who frequently is in a situation of economic need and the intended surrogate parents, who typically are people with considerable economic means, is premised on gross inequality. Although the proposed New York legislation on gestational contracts provides protections against certain onerous and invasive terms that have been imposed on women in surrogate contracts, such as restrictions on diet, submitting to testing, and proscriptions on sexual relations, this legislation cannot guarantee that such restrictions will not be used against the woman used as a surrogate since the intended parent(s) is allowed to purchase her medical insurance policy and pay for her legal assistance.

Surrogacy contracts institutionalize the commodification of women’s bodies. Even the language of surrogate and gestational mothers signals this commodification of women, pregnancy and reproduction. The so-called surrogate becomes an instrument of others’ desire for biological children. In the case of gestational surrogacy, pregnancy also becomes a commodity that can be bought by those who have means and sold by those who are disadvantaged economically.

Rather than a relationship between mother and fetus, pregnancy is treated as a product or a commercial service to be purchased. In the rarefied world of surrogacy contracts, pregnancy that under usual conditions is a relationship of the biological mother to the fetus, becomes stripped of any developing connection between the biological mother and the child-to-be-born. In fact, this normal relationship is frowned upon as interfering with the rights of the contracting parent (s) because the gestational mother is required to hand over the child born at birth. The chief function of women used as surrogates is to produce a child for the contracting parents and NOT develop any relationship with the intended child. She is encouraged to tell herself that she is not the mother of this developing child and is essentially treated as a breeder for others. Women’s wombs become mere environments for others’ reproductive choices.

In almost every country of the world, persons cannot legally sell their organs. It is recognized that selling organs, even with regulatory provisions, can create a burgeoning market and invite unscrupulous brokers whose goal is financial gain and taking advantage of those whose bodies are used. The poorest, the most disadvantaged, are the ones who usually come forward.

Some individuals believe that it is possible to create a legal market in live organs that would institutionalize safeguards against exploitation. As with those who argue against the legality of organ selling arrangements, we would argue that however surrogate contracts are regulated, surrogate arrangements can never be ethical because they will always target and harm the most vulnerable women. Why is it primarily the most disadvantaged women who participate in these contracts? We would further argue that the system can never be adequately regulated to prevent exploitation of the vulnerable because financial motivation and profit margin drive the decisions of the surrogate brokerage agencies.

The European Parliament “condemns the practice of surrogacy, which undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity; considers that the practice of gestational surrogacy which involves reproductive exploitation and use of the human body for financial or other gain, in particular in the case of vulnerable women in developing countries, shall be prohibited and treated as a matter of urgency in human rights instruments.”

The new European Union policy framework to combat violence against women calls upon all member nations to “acknowledge the serious problem of surrogacy, which constitutes an exploitation of the female body and her reproductive organs.” It also emphasizes “that women and children are subject to the same forms of exploitation, that both can be regarded as commodities on the international reproductive market, and that these new reproductive arrangements, such as surrogacy, augment the trafficking of women and children.”

Women’s wombs are big business. Laws, regulations, and contracts overwhelmingly protect those with money, not those who need money.

As a lifelong and committed champion of women’s rights and equality, Assemblywoman Paulin, please withdraw your support of SB00017A/AB06959.

Sincerely,

Tom Abate
Bernadette Abrassart Dickès, ACIM, Midwife and nurse DE
Cassandra Adams, Donor- Conceived adults of the Tristate area
Daniela Agostini N.
Maria Paola Albini
Dana Alfred
Tracy Allard
Jane Allen
Adeline Allen, Princeton University, Visiting Fellow
Michelle Armendariz, Medical student: Keck 2021
Daniele Avesani
Maria Azzola
Suzanne Bachner, JMTC International, Inc., President
Toni Bare
Mary Beeckman
Ell Meagan Bell, Former egg donor, I run an advocacy group for sick and former egg donors
Jeanette Bening
Suzanne Benson
Ottavio Bertoglio
Mary Biasotti
Taina Bien-Aime, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Executive Director
Anne-Marie Bilodeau
Marie Boeswillwald
Jennifer Bott
Susanna Braswell
Hernán Bressi
Fiona Broadfoot, Build A Girl, CEO
Ginny Brown
Autumn Burris, Survivors for Solutions, Founding Director
Twiss Butler
Kate Butler
Yuri Camiré, Student
Mario Campogrande, Obstetrician Gynecologist Past President AOGOI ITALYresident
Diane Caron
Palomo Casado
Michael Casey
Eve Cat
Chard Cecile, Association “Femmesaudeladesmers”, Vice President
Susana Chiarotti; Instituto de Género, Derecho y Desarrollo; Director
Terrell Clemmons, Writer/Editor
Kathleen Coleman
Annie Connan
Michael Cooke
Benedetto Costa Broccardi
Valerie Coutand
Stefania Da Re
Carolyn DAgostino, Esq.; New York Adoption Equality, Upstate NY Co-Ordinator; Principal, The Law Office of Carolyn A. D’Agostino, PLLC; former President, Rensselaer County Bar Association
Mary Dalton
Patty Dann
Olivier Darras
Lisa E Davis
Roberto de Juan
Lynda Dearlove, women@thewell, CEO
Béatrice Delignières
Ruben DeLucca
Dr. Jean Claude Denaes
Ursula Deutsch
Raquel Diaz
Donna Dickenson, University of London, Professor Emerita of Medical Ethics
Jean-Pierre Dickes, Médecine générale, Chairman of the French Association of Doctors and Nurses
Katy Doran
Melissa Dryland
François Dugré, Professor
Joanne Dunne
Ellen Durant, Fortunately & happily reunited first mother
Eric Eckert
Matthew Eppinette
Richard Ericson
Loretta Evans
Geneviève Facorat
Katy Faust, Them Before Us, Founder
Drisha Fernandes, Iniciativa Pro Equidad de Genero, Co-coordinator
Mark Fijalkiewicz
Anna Fisher, Nordic Model Now!, Chair
Martha Fitz
Courtney Flynn
Marinaro Francesca, Se Non Ora Quando-Libere, Italy
Nicole Fréjaville
Rozenn Frere
Lillian Fry
Helen Fuhrmann
Nicholas Furton, The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Editorial Assistant
Breana George
Laura Ghaninejad
Cathleen Gillies
Roberta Giuliani
Genevieve Gorciak, Archdiocesan Counsel of Catholic Women, Member
Bridget Gordinier, NYADOPTIONEQUALITY, NYAC
K.S. Graffmo, MD PhD
Mary Gregory
Sofie Gregory, IdentityRites, IdentityRites Coordinator
Diane Guilbault, Pour les droits des femmes du Québec, President
Louise Guilbault, Pdf quebec
Marta Lúthien Gutiérrez Albarrán
Laura Hagerman
David Hahn
Trish Hamilton
Amy Hamilton, Ph.D.
Mary Hardy
Barbara Harrison
Marie Hartmann
Linda Harvey
Susan Hawthorne, Spinifex Press, Publisher of ‘Surrogacy: A Human Rights Violation’
Paul Hojnacki
Sue-Ying Huang
Dr. Valerie Hudson
Caterina Iannella
Nicholas Isel, Them Before Us
Ana Jiménez
Lyne Jubinville, PDF QUEBEC, Feminist
Debora Kean
Sr. Ann Keegan
Britni Keen, Surrogate mother
Martine Keller
Jessica Kern, Stop Surrogacy Now, Born of surrogacy
Nadia Khouri, Retired professor of Ethics, presently Scholar in Residence in a community college
Renate Klein, FINRRAGE (Australia), Co-ordinator
Brittany Klein
Birgit Knaus
Glen Koch
Colette Kouchner
Leo Kronberger, Dr. med., M.Sc.
Jan Kurth
Ellie Kurz
Jennifer Lahl, StopSurrogacyNow, Founder
Charo Lalinde
Massimo Lapponi
Marie Claude Lasserre
Laura Lecuona, Feministas Mexicanas contra Vientres de Alquiler, Founder/president
Ruth Lee
Katia Leitao
Theresa LeMaitre
Pauline Ley, Adopted Adult
Michel Lhombreaud
Rachel Lin
Bonnie Lindblom
Goran Livaja
Lawrence Locklin, Engage Daily, Founder
Miljenko Lončar
Brenda London
Judy Malings
Kelly Martinez
Adriana María Martínez Fabre Hernández
Soini Maurizia
Nancy McCann, RN
Judy McHutchison
Chelsey McNeil
Giuseppe Medugno
Elisabetta Meglioli
Manon Michaud
Sr. Chr. Morck
Marilyn Murphy
Claire Murray, CoRP
Philippe Mussi
Clare Nolan
Cristina Nuñez, ADOPTA
Mariana Ocana
Sophie Olson
Thomas Oram
Pierrette Pape, isala asbl, Chair
Ghislaine Paquet
Claudio Pell, Generazione Famiglia, Portavoce
Clara Perdomo, Opciones Heroicas
Javier Perez
Ana Jesús Pérez Fillol
Valérie Peysson
Fabiana Piazza
Jennifer Pierce
Nuno Pinheiro
Montse Pinto
Eunice Poon
Gary Powell, Longstanding lesbian and gay rights activist, UK.
Maarianne Proulx
Janice Raymond, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies & Medical Ethics
Mary Reale
John Reale
Maria Redmer
Del Reinhart
Michel Rezvoy
Monica Ricci Sargentini, Rete contro l’utero in affitto, Journalist
Françoise Rioux
Joyeux Robert
Martine Roucole
Karen Russell
Sheela Saravanan; Researcher affiliated with South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University
Christin Scheel
Jacqueline Schloen
Christy Schultze
Roselyne Segalen
Hannah Sillars
Doris Sippel
Kathleen Sloan
Hayley Smith
Joan A Smurthwaite, Catholic Womens League of Australia
Hannah Spanswick
Terre Spencer, Writer
Jean Francois Stachera
Alessio Stalla
Johanne St-Amour, Féministe
Irene Starace, WILPF, Translator and researcher
Henri Staron
Michael Steele
Maddy Steinhart
Ana-Luana Stoicea-Deram, Collectif pour le Respect de la Personne (CoRP) France, Présidente
Annie Sugier, Ligue du droit international des femmes, President
Cathi Swett; New York State Bar, NY Adopt Equality; bar member, NYAE downstate coordinator
Patricia Tabone
Paola Tavella, Italian Parliament, Journalist
Mercedes Temboury, Head
Maria Thornbrough
Laura Tiberi
Ruth Lizette Toledo Peral
Elise A. Tollner
Miguel Angel Torres Quiroga, Ph.D. Student in Philosophy, Autonomous University of Madrid
Ana Trejo Pulido, Stop Vientres de Alquiler, Founder Member of Stop Vientres de Alquiler
Roberta Trucco, Senonoraquando Genova, Laurea
Daniela Tuscano, Teacher
Ewa Ulinska
Teresa Ulloa, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATWLAC), Regional Director
Sabrinna Valisce
Amber van Moessner, Donor Conceived Person
Laurita Vodak
Gisela Weber
Harold Westra, Christian Reformed Church, Pastor
Marv Wheale
Maria Wolff
Margarete Woszczyk
Carol Wu, Supporter of The Center for Bioethics and Culture; San Ramon, CA
Katherine Young
Joseph Ysasi
Mauro Zanzi
Massimo Zibetti