Help Stop the Parentage Equality Bills HB4672/SB947

HB4672/SB947 “An Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality,” would enshrine “intent-based parenting” in Massachusetts law, making it much easier for parents with no biological connection to a child to acquire that child through surrogacy or sperm or egg donation. These methods can have devastating consequences for children who are intentionally separated from their mother, father, or both. These bills would prioritize the desires of adults over the needs of children in the Commonwealth. 

We oppose this legislation because if passed, it would:

• Deprive children of their right to know their biological mother and/or father. When children are conceived through surrogacy or sperm/egg donation, they are almost always separated from one or both biological parents, which research shows can lead to mental and emotional suffering, increased risk of abuse, and poorer life outcomes. While adoption aims to remedy an already broken situation, surrogacy and donation intentionally create that separation, leaving the child to bear the consequences.
  
  
• Turn children into a commodity that can be bought and sold. Surrogacy and donor conception often commodify children and involve significantly reduced safeguards for children. These practices allow individuals to purchase children without the rigorous scrutiny required for legal adoption, such as background checks, references, and home studies. While purchasing children would otherwise be considered child trafficking, these bills will legally sanction the practice through genetic surrogacy agreements.
  
  
• Hurt mothers and fathers. Surrogacy and donor conception arrangements can harm both children and the adults involved. Many who have sold their genetic material or rented their wombs regret not knowing and raising their children. Surrogacy in particular introduces serious moral and legal issues, sometimes leading to the exploitation of impoverished mothers who feel pressured to participate. Making these practices easier in Massachusetts will harm parents as well as children.

Instead of parental rights being rooted in the biological bond that exists between a parent and child, or adoption-an arrangement that is designed to protect the child's best interest and thus requires rigorous background checks and screening-these bills expand those rights to any adult with the money and means to acquire a child.

Please tell your legislators to do everything they can to stop these harmful bills that treat children as commodities to be bought and sold, rather than as human beings with infinite worth!

Click the Take Action link below for a phone or email script. The phone number of your legislators is listed on the Take Action page. If using the call option, please record the result, and then click Save Call Data. Or you can choose the email option with our talking points to email your legislators.

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