Andy Cohen has recently opened up about his experience bringing his daughter Lucy, now 1 year old, into the world through compensated gestational surrogacy.
Cohen, 55, shared on the May 30 episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast that “Lucy was one of the first surrogate babies born [in New York]” — since gestational surrogacy was illegal in the state until 2021.
The “Watch What Happens Live” host “was out there trying” to get the process legalized in the state as he “wanted my surrogate to have the baby in New York.” Cohen’s son Ben, 4, was born via gestational surrogate in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 4, 2019.
“I was going to Albany. Surrogacy was illegal in the state of New York, and I helped get that law passed,” he shared on the podcast. “And [former] Governor Cuomo, he really made it happen, by the way.”
Gestational surrogacy is when a person carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple, according to Cleveland Clinic.
The person carrying the baby — also called gestational surrogate or gestational carrier — has no genetic or biological relation to the baby.
Gestational surrogacy is the most common type of surrogacy today, according to Surrogate.com.
With traditional surrogacy, the carrier is genetically related to the fetus and their eggs are used to create the pregnancy, making the carrier the biological parent of the child.
This means the biological parent has to surrender parental rights to the intended parents, which can cause legal issues. Traditional surrogacy is illegal in many states.
The process is usually carried out through IVF (in vitro fertilization) with a lab-created embryo using an egg and sperm from the intended parents or an egg and/or sperm donor. The fertilized egg is then transferred to the gestational carrier.
Because the gestational surrogate does not provide the egg themselves, they have no genetic link to the child.
As Andy Cohen told podcast host Amanda Hirsch, his daughter Lucy “was one of the first surrogate babies” to be born in New York.
Gestational surrogacy was illegal in New York State until the Child-Parent Security Act (CPSA) was signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo on April 3, 2020. It officially took effect on February 15, 2021.
The CPSA “legalizes gestational surrogacy and provides a simple path to establish legal parental rights for parents who rely on assisted reproductive technology (ART) to have children,” according to the New York State Department of Health.
Surrogacy is permitted for all parents in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Vermont and Washington, according to Creative Family Connections.
In most states, surrogacy is permitted but specifics vary based on state-specific requirements. These states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
In Idaho, Tennessee and Virginia, surrogacy is practiced, but there are potential legal struggles that one may face in the process.
Creative Family Connections advises those in Arizona and Indiana to “proceed with extreme caution” as surrogacy contracts are void in these states and are unenforceable by state statute.
Nebraska, Michigan and Louisiana are considered “Red Light” states, meaning that state law prohibits commercial surrogacy contracts — or a birth certificate with both parents named will not be issued. In Louisiana, a statute considers compensated surrogacy to be criminal in most cases.
The total cost of surrogacy can range from $100,000 to $225,000, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The price of surrogacy is comprised of embryo creation ($20,000 to $50,000), egg donation ($20,000 to $30,000), agency fees ($30,000+), legal fees ($7,000 to $15,000), base compensation to surrogate ($30,000 to $70,000), contingent fees to surrogate ($15,000 to $30,000), insurance costs ($12,000 to 30,000), as well as any other expenses that the intended parent or parents might have to consider, including travel, pregnancy supplies and baby supplies that would be needed immediately after the birth of the child.