Twins complicate surrogacy issue

The birth three weeks ago of twins, a boy and a girl, to a paidsurrogate mother in Michigan further complicates the debatesurrounding the issue of such surrogacy and sounds a strong warningthat careful regulatory legislation is urgently needed.

What was supposed to be a simple - even if offensive - businessarrangement took an ugly and cruel twist after surrogate mother PattyNowakowski of Ionia, Mich., found that she was pregnant with twins.

She had been paid $10,000 to carry a child for a wealthyMichigan husband and wife who were no longer able to have children.

But the conception of twins complicated matters, especiallysince one of them was a boy and the couple already had three sons.

And, two weeks before delivery, the couple informed Mrs.Nowakowski that they did not want male children because the wife wastoo frail to raise boys. They took the girl and left the boy withthe Nowakowskis.

These events raise a lot of questions. Among them:

Should only childless couples be allowed to enter into surrogacyagreements.

Do people who pay a woman to bear them a child have the right tobe gender-specific and to specify whether they want a boy or a girlwhen they enter such a business arrangement? And if so, what happensto the child if it is of the opposite sex?

What are the responsibilities of the surrogate and naturalparents if the child is born with mental or physical handicaps?

And what of the future of these twins? The boy was given awayand spent a week in a foster home before Mrs. Nowakowski and herhusband decided he needed a home and a family with a stableenvironment.

Mrs. Nowakowski says she will tell her new son of thecircumstances of his birth. But she faces legal obstacles if shecarries through on her desire to have the twins know each other.

Legally there is nothing wrong with separating siblings. Ithappens all the time in divorce cases. But this is not a messydivorce squabble in which custody is granted to one parent. This isa tangled, complicated issue that evolved because tremendous advancesin medical technology confronted legal, ethical and moral issues.

Michigan Sen. Connie Binsfield, who is sponsoring legislation tooutlaw paid surrogate motherhood, admits never having thought of sucha scenario involving twins.

Apparently no one has thought much about the issue.

And for that reason we urge Gov. Thompson to appoint a panel toanalyze the statutes and attempt to come up with reasonable,equitable and enforceable legislation here.