Johnson v. Calvert

*87Opinion

PANELLI, J.

In this case we address several of the legal questions raised by recent advances in reproductive technology. When, pursuant to a surrogacy agreement, a zygote1 formed of the gametes2 of a husband and wife is implanted in the uterus of another woman, who carries the resulting fetus to term and gives birth to a child not genetically related to her, who is the child’s “natural mother” under California law? Does a determination that the wife is the child’s natural mother work a deprivation of the gestating woman’s constitutional rights? And is such an agreement barred by any…