Cheryl Lynn Allen: Pennsylvania must reject HB 350 to protect children’s rights

As a former judge who spent decades adjudicating family law cases in Pennsylvania, my primary concern has always been the best interests and safety of children. The core principle guiding family law in our state has consistently prioritized the stability, health, and welfare of our most vulnerable citizens. 

That’s why I’m deeply troubled by a new bill moving through the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the so-called Uniform Parentage Act or House Bill 350. This bill threatens to fundamentally erode many essential protections for children under the guise of convenience and “modernization.”

HB 350 goes far beyond codifying the troubling precedent established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Glover v. Junior. This decision radically redefined parentage based purely on the intention of adults involved, regardless of biological or adoptive connections. By detaching parentage from biology or adoption, the court treats children as mere commodities.

Worse, what HB350 seeks to do is eliminate judicial oversight, allowing unrelated adults to gain legal parental rights solely based on intent, without any rigorous screening. 

Children born from surrogacy deserve the same protections as children who are to be adopted, who were not born from surrogacy, but the so-called Uniform Parentage Act purposefully denies children born of surrogacy those protections. Currently, our adoption process involves extensive safeguards, including home studies, criminal background checks, financial evaluations, and character references. Yet, HB 350 eliminates these protections for children created via surrogacy, leaving children significantly more vulnerable than their peers who enter families through traditional adoption processes to abuse and trafficking. 

If the so-called Uniform Parentage Act passes, there would be a stricter vetting process to adopt a newborn or even to work with children as a coach in Pennsylvania than HB 350 would require for an unrelated adult to become the legal parent of a newborn via surrogacy. 

Furthermore, the proposed legislation creates conditions ripe for exploitation. As Them Before Us articulated in written testimony, commercial genetic surrogacy outlined by HB 350 allows for profiting and transactions of children. Such practices clearly contradict adoption laws and international child protection agreements like the Hague Convention, which rightly condemn such arrangements as baby-selling.

There are FBI cases that uncovered baby-selling rings exploiting surrogacy laws. Legal experts have noted that a crime like this “would not have been possible if it were not for the laws allowing commercial surrogacy,” which permitted unrelated adults’ names to appear on birth certificates without judicial oversight.

These types of checks and safeguards are necessary in today’s environment. For 25 years, I served in the juvenile court system, serving as an assistant county solicitor for Children and Youth Services of Allegheny County and as a juvenile court judge. Through this experience, I presided over countless cases where children and families were abused and traumatized by unrelated partners their mothers had entered into relationships with.   

HB 350 not only neglects the psychological and emotional well-being of children, but it also disregards their fundamental right to know their biological origins. This bill systematically severs children from their family histories, potentially depriving them of vital medical and genetic information, and increasing the risk of inadvertently engaging in relationships with unknown relatives.

By eliminating rigorous adoption-level screenings and judicial oversight, HB 350 increases the risk of abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. The minimal mental health evaluations required by HB 350 are alarmingly inadequate when compared to the stringent vetting required even for coaching a youth sports team.

Moreover, the bill opens disturbing possibilities such as validating contracts post-conception or even through natural conception — essentially allowing contracts around paid intercourse to be legitimized after the fact. This level of commodification of children is simply unacceptable.

As Frederick Douglass wisely said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Pennsylvania must uphold its legacy of prioritizing the health, safety, and dignity of our children. HB 350 fails this moral imperative.

We must not allow a dangerous shortcut to replace our well-established protections. We must not treat children as commodities or personal property. Instead, we must uphold rigorous safeguards ensuring every child’s right to safety, dignity, and identity.

As someone who has devoted her career to upholding justice for families and children, I urge lawmakers to reject HB 350 and protect Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable.

Judge (ret) Cheryl Lynn Allen served as the first black woman on the Pennsylvania Superior Court and previously served on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. She served as a trial judge in both Family and Criminal Court until her election to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2007. She is currently Of Counsel with the Pennsylvania Family Council and the Independence Law Center.