Bravo host Andy Cohen spoke about the gestational surrogacy process he used to father his daughter Lucy. (Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage)
Andy Cohen shares his experience hosting his daughter Lucy through compensated gestational surrogacy, which was illegal in New York State until 2021.
The 55-year-old Watch What Happens Live host opened up about the arrival of Lucy, who is now one year old, and his work on legalizing the process of surrogacy during pregnancy in a revealing new interview so that he can move on to the second times can become parents. (New York resident Cohen also has a 4-year-old son, Benjamin, who was born in California.)
“I wanted to go to Albany. Surrogacy was illegal in upstate New York, and I helped pass that law,” the Bravo star told host Amanda Hirsch on the May 30 episode of her podcast, Not Skinny But Not Fat. “And [former] Governor Cuomo really nailed it, by the way.”
Cohen opened up about how he was “out there trying to get legislation legalizing compensated gestational surrogacy” because he “wanted my surrogate to have the baby in New York.” According to Cohen, “Lucy was one of the first surrogate babies born here.”
What is Compensated Pregnancy Surrogacy?
In paid or commercial surrogacy, a woman carries a child to whom she is not biologically related for a fee for an individual or couple. Compensated gestational surrogacy differs from compensated traditional surrogacy, in which a carrier uses her own eggs and is genetically linked to the resulting child. In contrast, in gestational surrogacy, the surrogate has no biological connection to the baby. Using an egg cell from the intended mother, this is then fertilized with sperm and transferred to the surrogate mother. Compensated traditional surrogacy is still illegal in New York.
While it varies by location and experience, traditional compensation for a surrogate in the United States ranges from $30,000 to $60,000, the New York Times reported in 2021. As Yahoo Life reported last week, new State of Surrogacy” The surrogacy agency Surrogate First found that expected base salary pay rates and benefits have increased by up to 35% and do not account for legal costs, agency fees and fertility treatments. Overall, the entire process can result in fees ranging from $100,000 to $150,000, according to the Associated Press.
The story goes on
Legalization of compensated gestational surrogacy
Compensated surrogacy during pregnancy is still illegal in Michigan and Louisiana, although specifics vary in other states — including Nebraska, where a law states that paid surrogacy contracts are unenforceable. While it was previously illegal in New York, that all changed with the Child-Parent Security Act (CPSA), which went into effect on February 15, 2021. The law officially legalized surrogacy in pregnancy and “provides an easy way to establish statutory parental rights.” for parents who rely on assisted reproductive technology (ART) to have children.”
Legalizing compensated gestational surrogacy in New York has been a long and tedious process. The first bill to lift the New York ban was introduced in 2012 by Rep. Amy Paulin. However, he faced significant opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, as well as some feminists, who claimed he was leading to the exploitation of women, the Associated Press reported. Critics have long claimed that the process victimizes poor and vulnerable women because of the reparation aspect. Famed feminist Gloria Steinem argued in 2019 that “under this bill, women in economic distress will become commercialized vessels for hire and the fetuses they carry will become the property of others.” receiving government support are barred from being surrogate mothers, the Times reported.
surrogacy now
While surrogacy legislation is constantly changing, the State of Surrogacy survey mentioned above shows how surrogates themselves feel about the process. For example, almost half of surrogates – 49% – said they would work with a same-sex couple, although only about 17% have done so. The survey also found that 99% of surrogates said they wanted “frequent” communication with their intended parents 12 months after the baby was born.
In the case of Cohen, the story has a happy ending as the TV host proudly recounts his journey to parenthood.
“I’m a single dad and proud of it,” he shared on Hirsch’s podcast. “It is so hard. But if I had known how hard it was, I would have done it anyway.”
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