European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday. April 16,1987 columns Chen Goodman no Happy ending for present future baby mrs one sentence among the thousands in the 121 Page decision read in the new Jersey courtroom re Mains incontrovertible there can be no solution satisfactory to All in this kind of  no even of Ibert and Sullivan could have lied Al the Loose ends and confused identities of the baby m drama into a single Happy ending. So judge Harvey Sorkow chose to no Haj Busl in the interest of the baby he focused precisely and exclusively on the child produced by this artificial Union of Mary Beth and Bill. She would be Melissa he Fulcd daughter to the Sterns. And Mary Beth while Chad would have no rights. I do not envy judge Sorkow s role the awesome Power he exercised in this custody Case. Judges Aren permitted the luxury of endless ambivalence. Finally they must decide and though his judgement of mrs. While Chad was brutal Sorkow s Choice of the Sterns was Wise. But 1 am much less comfortable with the second half of judge Sorkow s ruling much less comfortable with his support for the contract and concept of surrogacy. If in holds we May have More Melissa and More no fewer characters in search of a conclusion. In his opinion the judge called surrogacy a alternative reproduction vehicle that appears to hold oat so much Hope to the  the end result children for the childless was the primary value. But 1 wonder whether he heard How these words Echo to Many of the rest of us. An alternative reproduction vehicle an Arv in t this what has been so troubling about the whole matter those of us less focused on the child or the children hear the mechanistic language and flinch at the idea thai there Are women Arv who will be recruited profession ally to manufacture children work As baby makers in what the judge described so cooly As a totally personal  there will be More women who will fail to keep their Cool. In the eyes of the Law surrogate motherhood he suggested was the equivalent of surrogate fatherhood. If a Man could legally sign Over his sperm then surely a women could sign Over her womb. But this neat Legal math denies reality. A woman is More than an egg donor. Man and woman May be two halves of the genetic Structure of their offspring but their roles be fore birth Are at unequal As Lei me be graphic ejaculation and gestation. This is not to suggest that by virtue of pregnancy every Mother has a stronger claim to the Newborn than any father that the Mary Beths invariably have first rims. There was too much of that sentiment outside William Safire  the courtroom too much Loose talk of bonding and intrinsic maternal rights. The repentant first surrogate Mother who Calls herself Elizabeth Kane said. No Man on Earth no matter what his title has the right to break the Bond Between a Mother and her child per haps she forgot that it was Bill Stem whose original desire to have a child began the entire Erea Iive process. Bui if we be Learned anything from this Case we be Learned that even an Arv can have second thoughts whether they come at childbirth or two years later or 10. Each child like Melissa comes with a Shadow family sister brother grandparents this family knows who and where the child is. Their own lives have been altered by her creation and absence. Each Melissa will come with the knowledge that her Mother did in for the Money the judge in this Case appears to believe thai Pecan write the contracts and Laws to clarify human relationships. Parents such As the Sterns can have the benefits of babies like Melissa without the debits of emotional turmoil like the while cads. Judges arc meant to have such Faith in the Law. I Don t share it. The baby m Case is and always will be unusual. The girl is As judge Sorkow wrote unique and Al risk. She May learn about her origins from some made for television movie. Or a Book cover a faded clipping a casual remark or an appeals Case. Nor is mrs. Whitehead Likely to fade away. The state supreme court has reinstated her right to visit wit the baby for two hours a week pending a decision on the Appeal. Just 48 hours after the decision when she appealed the verdict she did so legally and emotionally we will not accept the decision of one judge As the final determination of a whole society that we should be permanently  How Likely is she to accept that verdict from the next or the next or he next judge the child will always be the most famous of her kind but she is not alone. No Taw can clarify in Muddy human emotions that come when we introduce hired motherhood when we have a new category of children who can Trace their origins loan Arv the judge decided this Case for the Sake of the child for the value of children. He admitted that there was no Happy ending. But the reality is that for present an future baby Melissas this is no ending at All just the beginning. Paying court to Block voters in t Gand standing he has to do this Jackie Robin son said to us that fall of i960. He has to Call Martin right now today. I have the number of be  we were at a midwestern hotel campaigning for president with Richard Nixon. Jackie was a Rockefeller Republican but when the new York governor failed to win the nomination the former baseball player agreed to support the party nominee. That was a pretty Gutsy thing for him to do considering the entire Black establishment was behind John f. Kennedy but Jackie Robinson had unique experience in breaking through in the White world. The athlete with the greatest Posi Tive influence on Black White relations since Joe Louis was not the son to flinch at being called an Uncle Tom for sup porting a Republican. That Day his chosen candidate s undemanding about America s race relations was being put to the test. The Rev. Martin la incr King or. Had just been jailed. Jackie flew out to Sec candidate Nixon on the Campaign Trail to urge him to show concern in some tangible Way. 1 had known Jackie since 1 was a kid my brother Len Drew his picture for the daily Bruin when they attended Urcla. And later produced his radio show i used to holler myself hoarse at his exploits on the football Field. Baseball fans remember his driving pitchers crazy by stealing Home but Jackie averaged Over 11 Yards per carry in football and was the most enticing runner i Ever saw i took him to Bob Finati then running the Nixon Campaign and Finch ran him in to see the candidate himself. Ten minutes later he came out tears of frustration in his eyes. He thinks calling Martin would be grand standing " Robinson reported. Nixon does t deserve to  Jackie who had suffered More than his share of abuse from the grandstands pulled out of the Campaign he remained a new York Republican but never supported Nixon again. John f. Kennedy picked up the Telephone spoke to King in jail and became presi Dent. In the closest Campaign of mod Ern times that Call that expression of concern at injustice might have made the difference and was Ane of the if Only that Nixon ites lived with for eight wilderness years thanks to Jackie however a political lesson was Learned. In i96s, after Martin Luther King or. Was Mur dered some of us sought to impress upon the campaigning Nixon that Black americans at that moment de served a gesture of respect. We urged him to go to the King funeral. He picked up the phone and called his Campaign manager in new York i m sitting Here with Safirt Price garment All the Libs he told John Mitchell talking about the King funeral. Whai do you think he listened a moment and Hung up telling us he thinks there should t be any  grandstanding. Thai was the same word i pointed out to Nixon that a bitterly disappointed Jackie Robinson had reported he had heard As an excuse eight years before. Other aides weighed in heavily with appeals to conscience and a reminder that if elected he would have 10 be president of All the people. But the deciding fac Tor i think was Nixon s own memory of that tense conversation with the impassioned Black athlete. The candidate wisely decided to pay a private visit to mrs. King and to go to the funeral. Nixon refrained from marching in the funeral Parade be cause that would be  this Spring the baseball season salutes the american who broke the color Barrier 40 years ago and base Ball s statesman. Branch Rickey who searched for the Best Man to Bear the pressure of being first that is right and proper the integration of professional sports was a Milestone in our social history. But the Robinson example has a political message As Well. No longer is there a significant Downside for any party in any Region to paying court to Black voters on the contrary failure to show concern for minority feelings is now seen As a sign of political ineptitude. Jack Kemp in his Buffalo presidential Kickoff made a Point of inviting an a act official if this turns off some closet racists All the better. As Barrier breaking competitor Jackie Robinson symbolized equal Opportunity later As businessman and political participant he worked for More actual economic Opportunity. He understood that times of Strain de Mand bipartisan expressions of respect and support and a measure of the Progress he helped achieve is that no politician today would consider that grandstanding.  Timoti has Marvica