‘Surrogate’ Lawyer Files Opinion
The article reporting the meeting of the American Bar Assn. family law section dealing with surrogate motherhood was of great interest to me as I am an attorney who arranges surrogate mother contracts (“Bar’s Family Law ‘Think Tank’ Tackles Surrogate Motherhood Issue” by Beverly Beyette, Jan. 21). I have been involved in some 100 such situations (without any problems) and am published on the subject. In fact, I helped write the 1982 California Bill introduced by (Assemblyman) Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).
Do the “cardinals” of the American Bar Assn. care what the practitioners in the field have to say? No! Their opinion is that we “ . . . lawyers have been corrupted into becoming money-making machines and forgetting that there are broader social issues.”
This is hard to take from lawyers who have no practical experience with the fulfillment of bringing life into a deserving family.
My numerous successful surrogate arrangements are the result of careful planning, extensive screening of surrogates and adoptive couples, and the involvement of caring professionals in the legal, medical and psychological communities.
We who practice in this field merely wish to be heard since we spend our days, months and years dealing with the issues involved while the well-meaning “leadership” of the American Bar Assn. spend only the occasional weekend in Palm Springs pondering.
BERNARD A. SHERWYN
Los Angeles
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