The Utah law that governs gestational surrogacy agreements should apply equally to all married couples, or be deemed unconstitutional because it bars gay men from having a biological child.
That’s the argument made before the Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday by attorneys for a male married couple whose surrogacy petition was denied by a St. George judge in 2016.
Fifth District Judge Jeffery C. Wilcox said he believed he had no choice but to follow the language of Utah’s law, which requires medical proof that an intended “mother” is unable to conceive or carry a child.
On Tuesday, Wall told the court there are two routes to a decision: Find the statute discriminatory, and therefore unconstitutional, or direct the courts to read the law as gender neutral, despite its references to a “mother.