TRENTON, New Jersey (May 30, 2018) –Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the Gestational Carrier Agreement Bill sponsored by Assemblywomen Valerie Huttle, Annette Quijano and Mila Jasey. The law will protect all parties involved in gestational carrier arrangements as well as promote the best interests of the children who will be born as a result. Gestational Carrier Contracts will be enforceable, and Intended Parents and Gestational Carriers will have the legal protections that were denied to them previously.
New Jersey insurance regulations define a gestational
carrier as “a woman who has become pregnant with an embryo or embryos that are
not part of her genetic or biologic entity, and who intends to give the child
to the biological parents after birth.” Under the New Jersey insurance regulations, many medical insurance policies are required
to pay for gestational carrier procedures. What had been missing in New
Jersey is a law to protect the parties once these procedures result in a
pregnancy and birth.
“This law corrects the problem of allowing gestational
carrier arrangements to take place in New Jersey without legal protection for
the parties, including the gestational carrier.” said Melissa Brisman, a New
Jersey based reproductive attorney, who assisted with the drafting of the this
law.
A pre-birth order under these circumstances
clarifies and recognizes the rights of the various parties and the anticipated
child. It provides a measure of security to the intended parents,
gestational carrier, and child. Intended parents are given their rights
as parents with all the resultant legal obligations of care and support for
their child. A pre-birth determination of parentage provides direction
for hospitals and medical staff as to who may be present for delivery and
immediately thereafter, and is a great aid in seeking consent and instructions
as to the medical care for the child. The order establishing legal
parentage also allows for the parents to add their child to their medical
insurance policy, apply for a Social Security Number for the child, make income
tax return decisions, and obtain a passport for the child, etc.
“Finally New Jersey has followed
the lead of many of our surrounding states. It was imperative that this
law passed in order to provide distinction in the legal relationship
between the gestational carrier and the parents of the child she is carrying.
This law promotes family building and should be viewed favorably by all ”
argues Attorney Melissa Brisman.
Reproductive Possibilities is an
agency owned by Melissa Brisman that facilitates gestational carrier
arrangements. Ms. Brisman has been involved in over 2,000 gestational
carrier arrangements. The women who are kind and caring enough to help a
family have a child often tell us of the tremendous joy they feel by giving the
gift of life to their intended parents. These women are medically and psychologically
screened and are well prepared for their journeys. They do not create a
maternal bond with the child as they enter into this relationship fully aware
that the child is not theirs. This law now protects them as well, once
they make an informed decision to become a gestational carrier.
“It is astonishing that I have lived and worked in New
Jersey most of my life, and the passion I have for helping parents realize
their dreams of becoming a family could not be completed within my home
state. I have argued and won landmark cases in many other states and am
so proud to now be able to add New Jersey to that list,” said
Melissa Brisman who is blessed with a family of three children, all carried by
gestational carriers. “My family would not be here today without the
wonderful gift of two compassionate women. “
Having to find my carriers in other states made my personal journey a bit
harder. It would have been amazing for them to have lived in New Jersey
so that I might have participated even more with my pregnancies.”
Melissa Brisman is a member of the New Jersey Academy of
Adoption Attorney (“NJAA”), which assisted Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri
Huttle with the drafting of the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement
Act (A-1704) and the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology
Attorneys (“AAARTA”).
Melissa Brisman has worked in the field of third party
reproduction and helped couples become parents since 1997. She graduated
Valedictorian from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. She is an attorney
admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania,
and is a licensed certified public accountant. She is sole owner of
Reproductive Possibilities, LLC, an agency that facilitates gestational carrier
arrangements and Melissa B. Brisman, Esq., LLC, which handles legal work
related to third party reproduction and adoption.
