Human Dignity, Disability & Bioethics

375 articles

SECURITY ALERT: US Army vet secretly pairs Chinese nationals with American surrogates

U.S. Army veteran Haotian Bai runs Patriot Conceptions, a surrogacy agency that facilitates wealthy Chinese couples having American-born babies, which has raised national security concerns due to the potential for these children to later access sensitive U.S.

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Nancy Flanders|Live Action News|

Their Son Died. Months Later, Woman, 54, Has Baby From 22-Year-Old Embryo

Christina Rapti-Tzelepi, 54, gave birth to a healthy baby girl in Greece using embryos frozen 22 years earlier after the couple lost their son George in a car accident in October 2025. Due to Greece's age limit of 54 for IVF treatment, the couple had to proceed quickly and are now advocating for changes to the law to allow older women to undergo IVF.

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Newsweek|

Leo warns Macron and French parliament to defend sanctity of life

Pope Leo XIV delivered a speech at the Elysée Palace in France, warning President Emmanuel Macron and French parliament to uphold the sanctity of life by denouncing surrogacy and assisted suicide. He emphasized that mutual respect and protection of every human life is a duty incumbent upon all, following a private meeting with Macron and in the presence of politicians, diplomats, civil authorities, and firemen who responded to the 2019 Notre-Dame fire.

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Michael Haynes|Catholic Herald|

Pope Leo arrives in France, urges leaders to protect all human life

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Paris on September 25, 2026, and urged French leaders at the Élysée Palace to protect every human life, condemning assisted dying, abortion, and surrogacy while emphasizing the importance of welcoming life unconditionally and supporting the vulnerable. During his four-day apostolic journey to France, the pope also highlighted the Catholic Church's historical role in caring for the poor and underprivileged, and planned visits including a Mass in Paris, a prayer vigil at Stade de France, and a trip to the Marian shrine of Lourdes.

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Courtney Mares|Angelus News|

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Paris, urging French leaders to protect the right to life

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Paris on September 25, 2026, and urged French leaders at the Élysée Palace to protect every human life, condemning assisted dying, abortion, and surrogacy while emphasizing the importance of welcoming life unconditionally and supporting the vulnerable. During his four-day apostolic journey, the pope also highlighted France's deep Christian roots, addressed secularization challenges, and planned visits including a Mass with nearly 600,000 attendees and a prayer vigil for young people at Stade de France.

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Courtney Mares|OSV News|

Education efforts underway as Catholics navigate new Illinois physician-assisted suicide law

The End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act took effect in Illinois on September 12, allowing terminally ill patients to request prescription drugs to hasten death under specific conditions, prompting educational efforts by Catholic and pro-life groups to explain Church teachings and the law's implications. Jozef Zalot, a bioethicist with the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, are among those leading workshops and discussions to help clergy, laity, and families understand and respond to the new law while emphasizing compassionate accompaniment of the suffering.

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Simone Orendain|OSV News|

The Moral Problem With IVF: Human Beings Aren’t Property

Hannah Strege, known as the world’s first snowflake baby, was conceived as a frozen embryo from an IVF process and later adopted. Strege advocates against the view that embryos are merely property, emphasizing that human value is inherent from conception regardless of size, development, environment, or dependence.

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Florida couple alleges IVF clinic used wrong man's sperm as father found to have 'zero percent probability' of being baby's father

Florida couple Natalie and Joshua Strong allege that Brown Fertility clinic in Jacksonville used another man's sperm during their IVF treatment, as DNA tests showed Joshua had a zero percent probability of being the biological father of their daughter born in 2025. The couple is suing the clinic and its lead physician, Dr.

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Daily Mail|

Sex-selective abortions and IVF on the rise in United Kingdom

Government reports from the United Kingdom indicate a rising gender imbalance among Indian parents, with a higher number of boys born in third or later births, attributed to sex-selective abortion or IVF. Instances of baby girls being abandoned at maternity wards have also been reported, despite sex-selective abortion being illegal in the UK.

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Cassy Cooke|Live Action News|

Justice Elena Kagan issues STUNNING decision in surrogacy case where parents wanted to abort child with heart defect

Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency appeal from McKenna West, a surrogate who fled to Texas to give birth to a baby with a life-threatening heart defect after the biological parents requested an abortion. The California court recognized the biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, as the legal parents responsible for the child's medical care, a decision upheld by multiple courts including Texas and the U.S.

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Carlos Garcia|Blaze Media|

Third Circuit weighs quadriplegic man’s challenge of Delaware’s assisted-suicide law

A federal appeals court panel heard an appeal from Sean Curran, a quadriplegic, and disability rights groups challenging Delaware's End of Life Options Act, arguing it discriminates against disabled people by requiring doctors to inform patients about assisted suicide as part of standard care. Delaware officials argued Curran lacks standing and that the law does not legalize assisted suicide but merely offers it as a voluntary option, while the court panel did not indicate when or how it would rule.

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Jack Birle|Washington Examiner|

Supreme Court declines to intervene in custody battle of surrogate mom who refused abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the custody battle between McKenna West, a surrogate mother from Alaska, and California couple Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, who had a surrogacy contract requiring abortion if fetal abnormalities were detected.

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Supreme Court Won’t Hear McKenna West’s Case to Care for Baby Gabriel

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case of Alaska surrogate McKenna West, who refused to abort the baby she was carrying after he was diagnosed with a serious heart defect and sought a say in his care, leaving a California ruling recognizing the intended parents as the legal parents intact.

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Steven Ertelt|LifeNews.com|

Justice Kagan denies emergency appeal request from surrogate McKenna West

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied surrogate McKenna West's emergency appeal to overturn a California court ruling that she has no legal or physical claim to the medically fragile baby boy she carried, who was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Despite West's efforts to secure custody and ensure the baby received life-saving care in Texas, the baby's genetic parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, retain legal rights and are currently suing West for damages, while courts have ordered that the baby must receive stabilizing and life-sustaining care.

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Nancy Flanders|Live Action News|

Supreme Court declines to intervene in surrogate baby custody battle

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a custody dispute involving a California couple and their surrogate, McKenna West, who refused to terminate a pregnancy despite a severe fetal heart defect diagnosis. The California court recognized Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the legal parents of the baby, who was born in Texas and underwent surgery, with the Supreme Court's decision leaving the parentage ruling intact amid ongoing medical care concerns.

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Supreme Court declines to intervene in custody dispute between California parents and surrogate

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a custody dispute involving California parents and a surrogate who refused their request for an abortion after the unborn child was diagnosed with a serious heart defect. The surrogate, McKenna West, delivered the child in Texas and sought conservatorship, while the biological parents sued for breach of the surrogacy agreement and were previously ruled legal parents by a California court.

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Kate Scanlon|OSV News|

Supreme Court won't intervene in surrogate-parent custody dispute

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a custody dispute involving California parents and a surrogate who refused their request for an abortion after the unborn child was diagnosed with a serious heart defect. The surrogate, McKenna West, sought conservatorship of the child after delivering him in Texas, while the biological parents sued for breach of the surrogacy agreement and were previously ruled legal parents by a California trial court.

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Kate Scanlon|Angelus News|

Kagan steers Supreme Court clear of high-profile surrogacy fight

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan declined an emergency request from surrogate McKenna West to intervene in a custody dispute involving biological parents who had told her to get an abortion. West sought to overturn a parentage judgment issued in California in favor of the couple, but the case was not taken up by the Supreme Court.

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Zach Schonfeld|The Hill|

Supreme Court gives custody of baby to biological parents over surrogate in abortion related case

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan declined to intervene in a custody dispute involving a baby born via surrogate after the surrogate refused to terminate the pregnancy despite a diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The lower court's order granting custody to the biological parents, who are caring for the baby in Texas following open-heart surgery, was upheld without explanation from Kagan.

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Misty Severi|Just the News|

Italian Doctors Under Threat of Criminal Prosecution for Refusing Participation in Assisted Suicide

The spread of assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization and the resulting pressure on doctors to participate despite many refusing. It highlights the use of coercion, including threats to doctors' professional licenses, as a method to ensure compliance, citing bioethics advocates like Ezekiel Emanuel, Julian Savulescu, and Peter Singer.

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Samuel Has Down Syndrome, But His Mother Saved Him From Abortion

Catherina David of Ontario considered abortion after learning her unborn son Samuel had Down syndrome, but changed her mind at the hospital following a dream she interpreted as a sign from God. Samuel was born with a heart condition requiring surgery, but is now a healthy baby, and David says she has no regrets about choosing to continue the pregnancy.

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Steven Ertelt|LifeNews.com|

Women rewarded for abortion in new bereavement leave plans

From April 2027, women and their partners in the UK who experience a pregnancy ending before 24 weeks, including through abortion, failed IVF, or other pregnancy losses, will be entitled to up to two weeks of unpaid statutory bereavement leave. The policy has drawn criticism for equating abortion with miscarriage, raising concerns about the recognition of unborn life and potential misuse of the leave entitlement, while also extending to commissioning parents in surrogacy arrangements.

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Court ends emergency order meant to protect baby in surrogacy case

A Texas District Court vacated an emergency order that had kept Baby Gabriel/Rumi, born via surrogate McKenna West, in Texas to receive care for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, allowing his genetic parents to move him to California if approved by doctors. The court found that the genetic parents have consented to all recommended medical treatments and that some restrictions of the emergency order were no longer medically necessary, while maintaining that stabilizing and life-sustaining care must continue and that the Guardian Ad Litem remains appointed for the child.

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Nancy Flanders|Live Action News|

Thousands join Germany’s March for Life as activists attack pro-life stand

Approximately 6,000 pro-life demonstrators participated in Germany's annual March for Life held simultaneously in Berlin and Cologne, with the Cologne rally experiencing attacks from counterdemonstrators who threw paint and set off smoke bombs at a pro-life information stand. Several bishops joined the Berlin march, which drew around 4,200 people according to organizers, and speakers at both events addressed issues such as surrogacy and the right to life from conception to natural death.

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The disturbing truth behind the ‘right to children’ movement

Chinese billionaire Xu Bo fathered up to 100 children through IVF and surrogacy in the U.S., aiming to create a 'mega-family' linked to Elon Musk's children, a scheme revealed during a court case denying his parental rights to unborn children. The article critiques the push for IVF as a human right, highlighting ethical concerns about embryo status and the Catholic Church's stance that IVF is unethical because it treats embryos as commodities rather than human persons deserving dignity from conception.

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Theresa Farnan|Angelus News|