Christie Veto Puts Roadblocks Up for Would-Be Surrogates

A West Deptford woman who wanted to serve as a surrogate mother before her husband leaves on a military deployment to the Middle East next year has faced obstacles in the process, NJ Spotlight reports.

Twenty-five-year-old substitute teacher Joanne Gartner told reporter Andrew Kitchenman that she and her husband Mark weren't ready for another child yet.

But after the birth of their child, Jackson, 19 months ago, she felt like she could help another family until she was ready to have a second baby.

“I’m not ready for another one, but I know that someone else wants a baby and can’t have one, so why can’t I help them?” she said.

But last year, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a law passed by the New Jersey Assembly that would have allowed parenting rights to transfer to the biological parents in a situation like Gartner's. 

That bill, S-1599, outlines the arrangements in a gestational carrier arrangement—i.e., a mother who carries a baby with whom she has no genetic relationship—and would have made it clear that the parenting rights would transfer from the birth mother immediately after delivery.

Gartner has since found an agency with which to work, but the legal confusion around the law regarding surrogate rights and gestational carrier agreements continues.

Read more on NJSpotlight: WOULD-BE SURROGATES AND COUPLES SEEKING BABIES STILL FACE HURDLES IN NJ