Commercial Surrogacy Should Be Banned Because It Inherently Violates Children's Rights
Source: Jordan Boyd. "Surrogacy Left These 21 Children Parentless After Alleged Abuse." February 12, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that commercial surrogacy should be completely banned because it always harms children by separating them from their biological parents. She uses a shocking case of 25 abused children created through surrogacy as evidence that the system can't be fixed with better rules.
Conclusion
Commercial surrogacy should be banned entirely rather than regulated
Premises
- A Chinese couple used surrogacy to create approximately 25 children who were then allegedly abused and are now in foster care
- The children involved will suffer lasting harm from being separated from their biological mothers and gestational carriers
- Current regulations and industry self-regulation have failed to prevent abuse, as evidenced by this case and others
- Anyone with sufficient money can easily replicate similar schemes under current laws
- Commercial surrogacy inherently violates children's natural right to their biological parents
- No amount of regulation can fix a system that is fundamentally predicated on separating children from their biological mothers and fathers
Assumptions
- Children have a natural right to be raised by their biological parents
- Separation from biological parents causes inherent harm to children
- The California case represents a systemic problem rather than an isolated incident
- Regulation cannot adequately address the fundamental ethical problems with surrogacy
- The harms of surrogacy outweigh any benefits it provides to infertile couples