COVID-19, Surrogacy, and Unplanned Childcare: Why the Commercial Surrogacy Industry Needs New Contractual Provisions After the Pandemic
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic created unforeseen legal and logistical challenges for the commercial surrogacy industry, while illuminating the uniqueness of surrogacy, a long-controversial form of labor. COVID-19 proved that the commercial surrogacy industry is not prepared to operate during a global health crisis. New contractual provisions are needed to ensure care for surrogate-born infants and to protect surrogates from unplanned care work.