How the 2024 Election will Affect your Surrogacy Journey
With the U.S. presidential election just days away, it’s useful to know how the outcome could impact the family plans of thousands of Americans considering surrogacy and IVF.
Although surrogacy is not explicitly on the ballot, the candidates have very different positions on the rights of Intended Parents. In years past, these attitudes have dramatically restricted the ability of some Americans to form families and legally bring their newborns home to the US. The November election will determine if these restrictions return or if American citizens will continue to enjoy their full rights and privileges according to the law.
I’ve spent 12-years assisting couples struggling to start families at international clinics. In that time, the Trump administration implemented policies that made it harder for LGBT families and lawful permanent residents of the United States to create families and bring them legally into the U.S.
Specifically, there are two policies that are most egregious. Fortunately for IPs underway now, each was later reversed by the Biden administration. But depending on the results of the November election, we could see the return of these discriminatory practices.
Babies of Married LGBT Couples were Considered Illegitimate by the Trump Administration
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the previous Republican administration actively denied LGBT marriage rights.
In the years since same-sex marriage was upheld by the Supreme Court, the Trump administration unilaterally rejected the ruling and denied the marriage status of LGBT couples.
Under this discriminatory policy, all children born to LGBT married couples were labeled as being born “out of wedlock” by the State Department. As a result, children of LGBT couples could be denied citizenship and immigration status.
According to the Trump policy, babies born to these legally married couples were considered illegitimate. Despite the policy being overturned in various court cases, the Trump State Department continued to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The Trump presidency overtly discriminated against LGBT families, even in direct opposition to established law. If you’re in an LGBT relationship, and you think it’s impossible for the US government to deny your constitutional marriage rights, you should think twice. A Trump administration can/has trampled the equality of LGBT citizens.
The State Department policy shows how easy it is for the President to unilaterally roll back the basic rights of select American citizens. It’s not necessary to overturn a Supreme Court ruling or pass Congressional legislation to create devastating public policy.
U.S. Citizenship was Disallowed for Babies of American Families with an Immigrant Parent
Under the previous Republican presidency, it was illegal for your baby to get US citizenship if the genetic parent was not a US Citizen.
This means that under the Trump presidency, couples who sought surrogacy or IVF overseas could not bring their babies home as US citizens if the genetic parent was a foreign national. This included parents who were lawful permanent residents of the United States but had not yet obtained their citizenship.
In my experience, only the Trump administration denied citizenship to babies born into US families. It did not matter if the non-genetic parent was a US citizen, or if the genetic parent was legal resident or Green Card holder.
The policy denied the equality protection of legal, documented, long-term residents of the US.
The policy against non-citizens was reversed under the Biden administration. Under the current State Department Policy, a baby born into the family of a US Citizen is entitled to US Citizenship, even if one of the parents is still waiting for citizenship status.
Like the discriminatory LGBT policy discussed above, this policy was changed under the current administration. But o law or precedent can ensure future administrations will not reinstate this policy. In fact it seems likely that a return of the former administration would bring back these policies (or even more discriminatory versions).
As we approach the 2024 US presidential election, potential Intended Parents should understand the implications of the election and the importance of their individual votes.
