Rights of Families

Martin Guggenheim is a professor of clinical law and the director of Clinical and Advocacy Programs at New York University School of Law.Alexandra Dylan Lowe writes and advocates in the field of family law and adoption.Diane Curtis is an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.

"At an earlier time in this country’s history, the courts and society in general had a clear, if narrow, conception of how a family was formed: men and women married and conceived children together. Divorce was relatively uncommon and required proof of marital misconduct. Children born out-of-wedlock had few if any rights. Women had little or no control over the bearing of children. Adoption was controlled by adoption agencies and was, in most families, a closely guarded secret. Gays and lesbians stayed in the closet. The right of children to be protected from physical abuse or neglect by their parents was barely articulated. In vitro fertilization, surrogate parenting, and other complex reproductive technologies were unheard of."—from the Introduction