Commercial surrogacy : building families outside of family law

Abstract

Assisted Reproductive Technology continues to grow in popularity. Commercial surrogacy has proved no exception to this trend. However, lack of regulation at the international, federal, and state levels has given rise to a myriad of ethical and legal problems. This article considers the taxonomical question that any regulator must ask: Which field of law ought to be responsible for regulating this industry? It argues that although commercial surrogacy is often discussed as part of the family law rubric, on closer inspection, family law is fundamentally ill-suited to meet the needs of those involved in commercial surrogacy. By demonstrating the challenges with this regulatory paradigm, this article lays the groundwork so that scholars of other areas of law might explore this issue.