Since family codes now actively work toward offering a level playing field for all children regardless of their parents’ marital status, and apply a “best interest” standard when making decisions for all children, it seems incongruous to apply a different standard to something as important as a vital record. 


	Further, the use of vital records for statistics and official data collection is valid; however the same ends can be accomplished via an anonymous survey given at the time the birth record itself is submitted. A separate survey could collect information regarding method of conception, parental age and marital status, use of a surrogate, and use of gamete donors. Pre-birth orders filed during a surrogate pregnancy would ensure that the surrogate’s right to remain anonymous is fulfilled, and that the intended parents are the only parents listed on a birth certificate.


	The larger question that looms over this particular legislative question is, of course, why does this information matter to the state? The state’s government is charged with protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. It is certainly interesting to follow the advances of technology and in the state’s interest to gauge the vox populi in determining the demand for its police powers. However, once a child is born, it shouldn’t be the state’s concern how that child arrived, nor should the state attempt to separate the child from his peers, even on a birth certificate. A child is a child, regardless of circumstance, and each deserves equal rights, protection and dignity from the state.


The story of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s relationship and marriage is about twenty years old, including their courtship, but the celebrity couple recently made headlines when they released the above announcement. Their reason for using a surrogate for this pregnancy is unknown as of the time of this writing. However, reason suggests that a number of factors played into their decision to use a surrogate. Like Sarai in the Bible, Ms. Parker is getting older. She is currently 44 years old, which is considered advanced maternal age. She was also over 35 at the time of her first pregnancy. The method of conception for their first son was kept private, although Ms. Parker did conceive and give birth to that child at approximately age 38. 


	Stories like Ms. Parker’s are becoming increasingly more common in the United States. A generation of girls raised by feminist working mothers and grandmothers in the 1970’s and 1980’s watched those female role models become financially independent. As a result, many of those girls chose to delay marriage and children in favor of securing a career and financial security. Advances in reproductive technology and fertility treatments in the last thirty years or so meant that women could become mothers on their own timelines. Motherhood and career became a balancing act rather than a finite choice, neither requiring the total sacrifice of the other for survival. 