ALBANY NY (WRGB) – On Tuesday, Governor Cuomo launched the “Love Makes a Family” campaign to legalize gestational surrogacy and help support LGBTQ individuals and people struggling with fertility start families.
The campaign will include the creation of the Love Makes a Family Council, as well as a petition where New Yorkers can endorse the Governor’s proposal, a new campaign website and video testimonials.
“New York was the first big state to pass marriage equality, and we are a national leader on LGBTQ rights,” Governor Cuomo said. “It is shameful that we are only one of three states that does not allow LGBTQ individuals and people struggling with fertility to use gestational surrogacy to start families.”
Current New York law prohibits gestational surrogacy, creating legal uncertainty for parents using reproductive technology to conceive a child. Forty-seven other states permit gestational surrogacy.
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The Governor’s proposed legislation will establish criteria for surrogacy contracts and a surrogacy bill of rights that would provide the nation’s strongest protections for surrogates and parents and streamline the “second parent adoption” process, removing outdated barriers and extending common-sense protections for New Yorkers looking to start their families.
