The law of Pennsylvania is ambiguous regarding surrogacy. The law recognizes a surrogacy arrangement that is established through a legally recognized agency. At the same time, a compensated surrogacy agreement does not seem to be legally recognized in Pennsylvania and the validity of informal arrangements appears even less certain.
Though not concerning a surrogacy contract the case of Ruth F. v. Robert B., Jr.[i] is important on the point of how the courts in Pennsylvania treat surrogacy contracts. This case involved a paternity dispute (between a husband and his wife’s extramarital sexual partner) and the allocation of parental support duties. The Pennsylvania Superior Court observed in this case that the husband attempted to make a deal with the other man to obtain property in exchange for continued support of the child. The court also condemned the action as “odious and demeaning to the nature of child care and responsibility.” The Court concluded, “[w]e do not tolerate purchasing children for adoption and the bargaining over parenting rights and duties . . . in exchange for financial consideration is reprehensible. Any agreement reached thereby would have been unenforceable.”
The case of Huddleston v. Infertility Center of America[ii], involved a negligence action brought against a fertility clinic. Implicit in the decision was that the surrogacy arrangements executed through this particular agency were permissible under Pennsylvania law.
The case of J.F. v. D.B.[iii] involved a gestational surrogacy agreement (in which the surrogate mother is not the biological contributor of the egg) between a woman and a gay man. The Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the ruling of a lower court that granted custody to the surrogate. The Court found that the surrogate mother did not have standing to seek custody of the triplets. However, the Court explicitly refrained from ruling on the validity of surrogacy agreements by stating, “That task is for the legislature.”
There is no explicit prohibition in Pennsylvania on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender couples jointly adopting a child, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that an individual can petition to adopt the child of his/her same-sex partner.
[i] 803 A.2d 1195, (Pa. 2002)
[ii] 700 A.2d 453 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1997)
[iii] 897 A.2d 1261 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2006)
