New Jersey Supreme Court Rules on Matters of Surrogate Mothers and Adoption

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that women needs to have genetic or biological connection to a child to be considered the child’s mother before adoption.  So, if a woman has a surrogate give birth by using someone else’s eggs, she cannot be considered the mother unless she adopts the child.  

Critics of the decision comment that New Jersey has different rules for men and women.  An infertile man is instantly considered the father, even if someone else’s sperm is used to conceive a child. The New Jersey Parentage Act requires women who have no biological or genetic connection to an infant born of a surrogate to adopt the baby after the surrogate relinquishes any claim to the baby. 

The Supreme Court was divided evenly on the case before it and because of this deadlock, an appeals court panel ruling was affirmed.   The dissenting judges said that the parentage law puts a significant burden on infertile women compared to infertile men. 

See MaryAnn Spoto, Court: A Woman With No genetic Connection to Baby is Not the Mother Unless She Adopts, nj.com, Oct. 24, 2012. 

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) and Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.))  for bringing this article to my attention.