The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Baby Gabriel, born via surrogacy with a severe heart defect, can be taken from Texas to California by his biological parents for further treatment. Surrogate McKenna West sought sole conservatorship to control medical decisions and prevent the transfer, but the court prioritized the child's medical care and allowed the parents to proceed with the ICU-to-ICU transfer for additional surgeries.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen argued that a human embryo is a human being from the moment of fertilization and criticized the language that reduces unborn children to 'only scar tissue,' warning that such dehumanization leads to broader societal harms.
The moral ambiguity surrounding abortion by comparing it to the uncertainty in baseball rules, emphasizing that unresolved evidence about fetal personhood should not automatically be taken as proof that the fetus is not a person. It also highlights the competing costs of continuing a pregnancy versus ending it, noting that both choices carry significant and irreversible consequences that must be weighed carefully in the face of uncertainty.
Kallie Fell, Executive Director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, discusses the ethical, social, and human costs of the domestic surrogacy industry, highlighting its exploitation of women and commodification of children. The presentation calls for a reevaluation of policies and cultural attitudes that normalize surrogacy as a commercial transaction, challenging its portrayal as an act of compassion or empowerment.
Florida couple Joshua and Natalie Strong filed a lawsuit against Brown Fertility clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, alleging the clinic used another man's sperm to create their daughter's embryo, as confirmed by DNA tests showing Joshua is not the biological father. The couple claims the clinic has not accounted for Joshua's missing sperm, refused to admit the error, and they are seeking damages exceeding $50,000 while raising concerns about the possible use of Joshua's sperm in other embryos without their knowledge.
The spread of assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization and highlights that most doctors refuse to participate in these practices. It also mentions that doctors who refuse participation face threats such as professional license revocation and coercion, with bioethics figures advocating for mandatory involvement despite moral opposition.
The assisted suicide Bill, known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, was rejected by MPs in the House of Commons by 286 votes to 270, prompting relief among disability rights campaigners who oppose the legislation. These campaigners, including Baroness Campbell and Liz Carr, emphasized the need to focus on improving palliative and social care rather than legalizing assisted suicide, with analysis showing that twice as many MPs with disabilities voted against the Bill as voted for it.
Hannah Strege, born on December 31, 1998, is the first known child to be born after being adopted as a frozen human embryo, having existed for nearly three years in liquid nitrogen storage before her birth. Now 27 and a licensed social worker, she has testified in support of a Personhood Amendment, highlighting that human embryos like herself were legally treated as property despite being biologically human.
The Culture of Life Studies Program is hosting its annual Pro-Life Essay Contest for middle and high school students nationwide, inviting them to reflect on human dignity and contemporary medical practices through essays due by November 7, 2026. Last year, nearly 500 students participated, submitting essays from various educational backgrounds, and winners will receive prizes including cash, books, and pro-life materials, with top essays published on the program's website and social media.
Virginia voters will decide on November 3rd two amendments sponsored by Northern Virginia Democrats: one to enshrine unrestricted abortion rights up to birth in the state constitution, and another to remove the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage while codifying recognition of transgender identity. The abortion amendment would protect a broad range of reproductive health care including abortion and reduce parental oversight, while the same-sex marriage amendment eliminates religious liberty protections and supports commercial surrogacy as a family formation method for homosexual couples.
Lena Dunham and her husband Luis Felber welcomed their first baby via surrogate due to Dunham's hysterectomy from endometriosis. A decade earlier, Dunham expressed support for abortion rights and stated she wished she had had an abortion herself, highlighting a contrast with her current role as a mother.
A Greek couple, Cristina Rapti-Tzelepi and Constantinos Raptis, welcomed a baby girl named Georgia after implanting an embryo that had been frozen for 22 years following the death of their 21-year-old son Giorgos in a motor accident. Georgia was born just before Cristina reached the age limit for IVF procedures in Greece, and the couple considers her a continuation of their family story and a second chance at life after their loss.
Olivia Maurel, born to a surrogate mother and now an opponent of commercial surrogacy, argues for the complete abolition of surrogacy based on her personal experiences of psychological and emotional trauma after discovering her origins. She emphasizes that the surrogacy debate should focus on the rights and experiences of surrogate mothers and children rather than the desires of adults seeking children, highlighting the importance of biological roots and identity for children born through surrogacy.
A Greek couple, Cristina Rapti-Tzelepi and Constantinos Raptis, welcomed a baby girl named Georgia after implanting an embryo that had been frozen for 22 years following the death of their 21-year-old son Giorgos in a motor accident. Due to Greek law restricting IVF procedures after age 54, they had a limited window to implant the embryo, and they have not ruled out the possibility of implanting other frozen embryos in the future.
The ongoing issues in the largely unregulated commercial surrogacy industry in the United States, highlighting legal and ethical complications such as a custody battle involving an Alaskan surrogate and the exploitation of surrogacy loopholes by foreigners, including Chinese billionaire Xu Bo who allegedly purchased over 100 children born on U.S. soil for citizenship purposes.
A group of international organizations has petitioned a United Nations special rapporteur to recognize surrogacy as a contemporary form of slavery, arguing that it treats the child as an object of a contract and fits the 1926 Slavery Convention's definition of slavery. Surrogacy is banned in several countries and heavily regulated in others, with debates focusing on ethical concerns, legal recognition of children born via surrogacy, and the rights and protections of surrogates, especially in the United States where laws vary by state.
The surrogacy industry’s frequent association with abortion, particularly in cases involving multiple pregnancies or medical abnormalities, and highlights a recent case where a surrogate refused to abort a baby diagnosed with a serious congenital heart condition. It also presents the Catholic Church's condemnation of surrogacy as a violation of the dignity of both the child and the mother, emphasizing that a child is a gift and not a product or property.
A coalition of 160 organizations called the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to formally condemn remunerated surrogacy as a sale of a child, referencing previous UN reports and special rapporteur findings that highlight surrogacy's exploitative nature and harm to children and women. The article also details ethical concerns and legal disputes arising from surrogacy cases, including a surrogate mother refusing to abort a child with a congenital defect and another surrogate carrying multiple children for a Chinese billionaire, emphasizing the complex issues surrounding surrogacy practices.
Anna Russell and her husband chose embryo adoption over IVF after researching infertility and assisted reproductive technologies during seminary. They opposed IVF because it often involves creating multiple embryos, some of which are frozen or destroyed, which they believe is ethically wrong since human life begins at fertilization.
CBS News conducted a year-long investigation into the surrogacy industry, revealing widespread abuses including the exploitation of vulnerable women such as undocumented immigrants and single mothers, lack of transparency about intended parents, and surrogacy farming where multiple surrogates are contracted simultaneously without their knowledge. California was identified as a central hub for surrogacy due to favorable laws and geographic location, but the industry remains largely under-regulated, allowing practices like multiple surrogates for one intended parent to occur without legal oversight.
Surrogate mother McKenna West is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge a California court ruling that denies her parental rights to Baby Gabriel, whom she refused to abort despite the biological parents' request due to the baby's congenital heart condition.
McKenna West, a surrogate who refused to have an abortion at the request of the biological parents, filed an emergency appeal with the US Supreme Court to block a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the infant's legal parents and allows them to move the newborn out of Texas. West, dismissed from the Texas court case and seeking custody or conservatorship, argues the judgment violated federal due process and fears the couple will not provide life-saving care for the baby, who was born with a serious heart defect and remains hospitalized in Dallas.
McKenna West, a surrogate who refused to abort a baby diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, has filed an updated brief with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an administrative stay to prevent the baby from being moved out of Texas.
The request makes the case that surrogacy fits the definition laid out in the 1926 Slavery Convention that the practice entails the rights of ownership of a person. [...]
The Casablanca group of experts and the French NGO Juristes Pour l’Enfance have requested the United Nations to recognize surrogacy as a new form of slavery involving women and children, based on the 1926 Slavery Convention's definition of ownership over a person. They argue that surrogacy reduces the child in utero to an object and subjects the surrogate mother’s body to control by third parties, with several UN bodies and the Catholic Church also condemning the practice and calling for its abolition.
YouTube personality Jesse Ridgway and his wife Ashley decided to abort their unborn son after a diagnosis of Down syndrome, citing concerns about potential health complications and developmental disabilities. Ridgway responded to criticism from religious and pro-life voices with profane language, defending their choice and accusing critics of directing hate toward them.
Surrogate mother McKenna West has filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt a California court order that recognizes the California couple who hired her as the legal parents of the child born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). West argues for custody or conservatorship, claiming she does not trust the couple to provide life-saving care and alleges they demanded she abort the baby, while the couple has obtained a restraining order barring her from seeing the child and is suing her for breach of the surrogacy agreement.
Helen Lewis's article in The Atlantic explores surrogacy through a personal lens, highlighting troubling cases of surrogate exploitation but also including positive stories, ultimately failing to fully confront the systemic ethical issues involved. The article notably omits discussion of children's rights and the consequences of commercial surrogacy contracts, while framing opposition narrowly and not addressing broader concerns raised by diverse groups about the commodification of women's reproductive labor and children.
Cooke describes two British couples facing the destruction of stored embryos after sperm donors withdrew consent. She discusses their calls for legal change and frames the dispute around the moral status of embryos.
Surrogate McKenna West, who fled to Texas after refusing to abort a child diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, has filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to block a California court order recognizing the biological parents as the legal parents. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the custody battle, and a Texas judge ordered life-saving care for the child and prohibited removal from the state, but West was dismissed from the case and now seeks to participate in medical decisions and prevent the child from being moved to California for hospice care.
