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Law: Baby M Meets Solomon's Sword

Approaching the case of Baby M the New Jersey Supreme Court might have wished for the sword of Solomon -- not to divide the child, but to cut through the Gordian thicket of paradox, bad faith and conflicting feelings that has surrounded the matter from the start. As it turned out, in a unanimous ruling last week the court sliced the issue in a way that gave important concessions to both the parents, but cut to the quick the practice of surrogacy for pay.

The seven justices voided the 1985 contract by which Biochemist William Stern and his pediatrician wife Elizabeth...

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GEORGE LITTLE, Pentagon press secretary, on the decision to ease the restrictions on women in combat roles; women currently make up nearly 14% of the U.S. armed forces
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