NY Senate votes to allow paid surrogacy agreements

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York state Senate has voted to repeal a ban on paid surrogacy agreements, in which a woman is compensated for carrying the child of a couple or individual.

The Democrat-led chamber passed the measure Tuesday. It has the support of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo but hasn’t been scheduled for a vote in the Assembly.

New York and Michigan are now the only states expressly forbidding paid surrogacy agreements.

Television host and producer Andy Cohen traveled to Albany Tuesday to lobby for the bill. Cohen’s son was born to a surrogate in California. He says New York’s ban makes it needlessly difficult for infertile people, same-sex couples or individuals to start a family.

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem issued a letter opposing the measure, saying it would commercialize women’s bodies.