26 CityAndStateNY.com
March 2, 2020
A Pregnant Pa U
NLIKE MOST ISSUES in Albany that divide state lawmakers along traditional ideological and partisan lines, paid gestational surrogacy pits liberals, LGBTQ legislators and feminist lawmakers of different generations against each other. But that could change in upcoming budget negotiations. A bill to legalize gestational surrogacy – which allows a woman to bear a child using another woman’s egg – did pass the state Senate last year, but it did not get a vote by the full Assembly because of concerns among some older, female lawmakers who say the practice can commodify female bodies. Other Democratic lawmakers, especially those from the millennial generation, see surrogacy as a way to allow gay and straight couples alike to start families through a practice that is already legal in 47 other states. One key ingredient to success this year is timing, according to Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, who has been the go-to person for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the issue. “Gestational surrogacy was a big priority of ours last year and continues to be this year,” DeRosa said. “By jump-starting the campaign earlier, taking the time to properly educate legislators, and humanizing the issue, the likelihood of success is much higher.” The state budget process this year offers supporters their best chance yet to legalize gestational surrogacy. This approach would allow Cuomo, who reiterated his support for the proposal at a press conference last week, to circumvent the Assembly committee process by making the issue part of a broader agreement that includes legislators’ other political priorities. A new bill to legalize paid gestational surrogacy was introduced this month by state Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger – the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against the bill last year – suggests that critics are coming around. But Krueger and other influential lawmakers in the Assembly are pushing for a resolution on the issue to be delayed until after the April 1 budget deadline. With Cuomo and the state Senate having already demonstrated their support for the effort, the big x-factor remains Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who has said before that he generally opposes including policy proposals in the budget. Whether the As-
sembly backs the idea one way or another also remains an open question, he told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “If there is support for it in the conference, I’d say it’s a priority to have a discussion on it,” Heastie told reporters Tuesday. “Whether there is enough support within the conference overall to do it, that’s another matter, and I don’t have that answer yet.” Heastie did say that he would discuss the issue with a group of lawmakers from his conference. Though he declined to specify the specific lawmakers he planned to discuss the issue with, the most undecided
group among his members appear to be the same lawmakers who opposed the effort last year. “I’m very conflicted,” said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick of Manhattan, the state Legislature’s first openly gay or lesbian member and who opposed the effort last year. “On the one hand, I think this is happening and it’s going to keep happening so we should do what we can to make it as safe as possible. On the other hand, I’m very uncomfortable with some aspects of it.” Other past opponents include the chairs of the two legislative committees that oversee state spending – Krueger and Assembly
