Alexis L. Cirel Statement on the State of Fertility Law to Mark Surrogacy Awareness Month As New Law Takes Effect in Michigan
03/27/2025New York – March 2025 – Alexis L. Cirel, a Founding Partner of the Fertility Law Group at Warshaw Burstein, LLP, in New York, who is also admitted to practice in Michigan, made the following statement on the State of Fertility Law to mark Surrogacy Awareness Month, and Michigan's new Family Protection Act, that will take effect on April 1, 2025.
Ms. Cirel said: “The practice of fertility law covers many things. Often it involves drafting contracts and getting court orders in the context of third party reproduction, like donor and surrogacy arrangements. The reason you need a lawyer in that context is because unlike the ‘traditional’ way of becoming a parent involving only two individuals, third party reproduction relies on one or more additional individuals – i.e., a donor or a surrogate (and if they're married, their partner or spouse), and all of these individuals’ potential rights and obligations must be considered.
“As fertility attorneys, we set out to establish and secure the parentage rights of intended parents in the eyes of the law – even where those parents may not be genetically linked to the child and/or did not give birth to the child – and we cut off any inapplicable presumed rights of third party donors and surrogates. We do this by memorializing intent (or lack thereof) to be a parent in the applicable contracts, and then asking a court to codify that intent with an official order conferring legal parentage.
“Fertility law also addresses issues relating to ownership of frozen genetic material like embryos – for example in the event of a divorce – and the implications on legal parentage that flow from that.
“In many ways, assisted reproductive technology has outpaced the law and we’re playing catch up. As medicine advances, new social norms and legal issues arise and we work to adapt our jurisprudence accordingly across the country, expanding and redefining how we think about families conceived using this science. It’s important to remember that state laws impacting assisted reproduction vary and there is no uniform approach to any of this. It’s often a case by case, state by state analysis.
“Cost and insurance coverage for fertility treatment generally and for third party arrangements are huge challenges and additional considerations for fertility attorneys who practice in the space. For example, in many states, there is no mandate that insurers cover fertility preservation or IVF under certain circumstances, including where there is no diagnosis of infertility. This disproportionately and unfairly limits access to care for individuals and same sex couples, and it calls upon us as a community to advocate for a modernized definition of ‘infertility’.
“In the majority of surrogacy cases intended parents are required pay for health insurance for the surrogate’s pre and post natal care on top of the direct IVF costs. Many health insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for a surrogate pregnancy, and some impose liens where surrogates receive compensation. Thus, even if a surrogate has her own health insurance, intended parents must often incur the additional cost of purchasing additional coverage as part of their contractual obligations to her.
“Fortunately, there are currently widespread efforts to expand mandated coverage for things like fertility preservation and IVF without discrimination. When successful, these efforts will open doors.
“The current political climate and its impact is also an important consideration in the practice of fertility law. We’ve recently seen judicial decisions like the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs and the Alabama LePage decision threatening reproductive freedoms, personhood laws, and the rights of many families in the LGBTQ community. But, just as we evolve and adapt the law to follow advances in science, we in the legal community are always working to ameliorate political threats with legal solutions. We routinely look to choice of law options, draft and redraft contractual provisions, and brainstorm other workarounds to reinstate the protections that have been threatened.”
The Fertility Law Group was founded in February 2021, with the hire of Alexis L. Cirel to join Eric I. Wrubel, chair of Warshaw Burstein’s Matrimonial Law Group, to build a first-of-its-kind practice around the new surrogacy law in New York.
Since the launch of FLG in 2021, Peter L. Lese, Sarah A. Steckler and Jacqueline Bevilaqua, partners in the Trusts and Estates Group, have joined FLG, and Rose H. Vacanti Gilroy has joined as an associate attorney. Ms. Cirel was also named an Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA). Ms. Cirel is one of approximately 200 attorneys nationally to receive the ART Fellow distinction.
The group’s attorneys are admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and most recently, Ms. Cirel was admitted to practice in Michigan. They consult on cases from coast to coast.
Warshaw Burstein, LLP is a full-service law firm in New York City which has distinguished itself through superior and cost-effective legal service and personalized client care and attention. For more information, please visit www.wbny.com, or visit us on LinkedIn, and on Twitter @warshawburstein.
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