Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993 TAG: 9305210095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
Lawyers in the case said it was the first ruling by any state supreme court to uphold such contracts. The New Jersey Supreme Court declared surrogacy contracts invalid in the so-called Baby M case.
In its ruling, the California Supreme Court said surrogacy contracts - in which a woman agrees to bear a child for a fee - are enforceable and do not violate public policy.
A lawyer for the surrogate mother in the case said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Although most surrogate mothers are poor, "there has been no proof that surrogacy contracts exploit poor women to any greater degree than economic necessity in general exploits them by inducing them to accept lower-paid or otherwise undesirable employment," said the opinion by Justice Edward Panelli.
The woman in this case was implanted with the couple's already fertilized egg. It was unclear whether the ruling also would apply to another type of surrogacy, in which the surrogate mother's own egg is impregnated through artificial insemination.
Dissenting Justice Joyce Kennard, the court's only woman, said the majority had allowed "unregulated" surrogacy that failed to protect children and devalued the role of the birth mother.
"A pregnant woman intending to bring a child into the world is more than a mere container or breeding animal; she is a conscious agent of creation no less than the genetic mother," Kennard said.
She said such disputes should be decided according to the best interest of the child until the legislature approves strict regulation of surrogacy contracts.
A bill that would have declared surrogacy agreements legal under state regulation was vetoed last year by Gov. Pete Wilson.
The couple in the case, Mark and Crispina Calvert of Tustin, agreed in January 1990 to pay Anna Johnson $10,000 to bear a child for them. Relations between the two sides broke down during pregnancy and both Johnson and Crispina Calvert sought court declarations of motherhood.
Lower courts ruled in the Calverts' favor and cut off Johnson's visits to the then month-old boy in October 1990. He remains with the Calverts.
The Calverts are relieved by the ruling and hope it ends the case, said their lawyer, Robert Walmsley. He said Calvert told him after hearing the news, "I'm going to go hug my son."
Johnson's lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert, called a news conference at his office in Orange to denounce the ruling, and said he planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
by CNB