\u201cMy sense of the big picture is that we\u2019re moving toward laws like the one in Illinois, which accepts that the demand for surrogacy isn\u2019t going away but recognizes the hazards and adds regulations and protections,\u201d\u009d said Joanna L. Grossman, a family law professor at the Hofstra University law school.<\/p>\n
The Illinois law requires medical and psychological screenings for all parties before a contract is signed and stipulates that surrogates be at least 21, have given birth at least once before and be represented by an independent lawyer, paid for by the intended parents.<\/p>\n
The law allows only gestational surrogacy, in which an embryo is placed in the surrogate\u2019s uterus, not the traditional kind, in which the surrogate provides the egg. In addition, it requires that the embryo created in a petri dish must have either an egg or a sperm from one of the intended parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat eliminates some of the concerns about designer babies,\u201d\u009d Professor Grossman said.<\/p>\n