Texas Lawmakers Look at Prohibiting Foreign Surrogacy Contracts, Protecting Children

Bioethics, Surrogacy, , ,

Last week, lawmakers in Texas reportedly looked at the possibility of prohibiting commercial surrogacy contracts with foreign nationals.

In commercial surrogacy contacts, corporate agencies hire women to carry children for paying customers. But recent news stories and congressional testimony have highlighted how some of these paying customers may actually be from foreign countries. Because the children are born on U.S. soil, they are American citizens, but they may be immediately taken from the U.S. to be raised in China or another country. As a result, policymakers have begun voicing serious concerns about this issue.

The Texas Senate reportedly is among those looking at how to address surrogacy contracts involving people in other countries.

Last Wednesday, the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee met to examine “the unethical and foreign interests exploiting the surrogacy and fertility industries in Texas” as well as “recommendations to end this exploitation and related harm to patients and children.” If Texas moves forward with legislation, it could prohibit foreign nationals from paying surrogates in Texas to have children.

In June, the Republican Party of Texas added the issue to its platform, writing:

“Child First Conception Act: We support a ban on contract surrogacy involving foreign nationals, which may involve a form of trafficking and may lead to claims of citizenship. We also support prohibiting third-party egg and sperm donations and the commercialization of human reproduction in Texas; and support policies that promote the welfare of children, medical transparency, and the protection of biological parents.”

Arkansas U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and Florida U.S. Senator Rick Scott recently urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate surrogacy centers operated by foreign nationals.

In a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, both senators wrote,

“Recent reports have uncovered more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone. These agencies cater almost exclusively to wealthy Chinese clients, and some are affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities. Chinese nationals pay women living in the United States more than $50,000 to serve as surrogates. The children are born on United States soil and granted automatic citizenship. And in most cases, the infants are promptly flown to China and raised there under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist Party.”

We have written many times about how commercial surrogacy is a largely unregulated industry that exploits women and hurts children.

Unlike many other countries, the United States has relatively few restrictions on surrogacy. That is a serious problem.

Surrogacy is bad enough when it goes wrong, but does surrogacy ever “go right”?

Social commentators and policymakers worldwide have pointed out how commercial surrogacy financially pressures women.

It treats pregnancy like a “service” in which women can be “hired” or “fired” as surrogates.

It deliberately deprives children of their biological mothers or fathers.

And it treats children like products that can be made to order and sold for profit.

Our laws must put children first. People aren’t products. That’s part of the reason Family Council has opposed commercial surrogacy in Arkansas.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Story Underscores How Commercial Surrogacy Hurts Women and Unborn Children

Bioethics, Surrogacy, , , , ,

A recent story from the pro-life group Live Action underscores how commercial surrogacy contracts turn women and unborn children into commodities.

In commercial surrogacy, corporate agencies hire women to carry children for paying customers. But if those customers back out of the contract, they may pressure the surrogate to abort the child. Live Action writes:

Unlike many other countries, the United States has relatively few restrictions on surrogacy — and that’s a problem.

News outlets have reported that a sex offender convicted of crimes involving children was able to obtain a child through surrogacy in Pennsylvania as a result of lax state regulations.

The Daily Wire recently visited several homes in Houston that the State of Texas says are helping Chinese nationals travel to the U.S. on tourist visas “for the sole purpose of giving birth.”

Last year The Wall Street Journal uncovered how Chinese billionaires are taking advantage of America’s surrogacy industry to create what some call “mega-families” with dozens or even hundreds of children.

The Wall Street Journal also has written about allegations of financial fraud among commercial surrogacy businesses.

In December, The New York Times and NBC News both reported about investigations into a surrogacy agency that abruptly shutdown, causing clients to lose an estimated $2 – $5 million total.

The list goes on.

Stories like these underscore why social commentators and policymakers worldwide have raised concerns about commercial surrogacy.

It’s bad when commercial surrogacy goes wrong — but it’s important to remember that surrogacy never “goes right” either.

Commercial surrogacy deliberately deprives children of their biological mothers or fathers.

It treats pregnancy like a “service” that can be purchased, and it treats women like commodities.

Human beings are not products that can be made to order and sold at a profit, but that is what commercial surrogacy does to unborn children. That’s why it’s essential for policymakers to enact real restrictions on commercial surrogacy contracts and agencies.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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U.S. Department of Justice Memo Directs Prosecutors to Address Fraudulent “Birth Tourism”

Bioethics, Surrogacy, ,

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo directing prosecutors to address fraudulent “birth tourism” in the United States.

U.S. citizenship is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment for “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” and courts have held that nearly everyone born within the country’s boundaries is a U.S. citizen. But testimony before members of Congress has shown that foreign nationals are using fraudulent tourist visas and international surrogacy contracts to have children born on American soil with U.S. citizenship — a practice commonly referred to as “birth tourism.”

Peter Schweizer, President of the Government Accountability Institute, testified before the U.S. Senate in March that between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese babies have been born in the U.S. specifically to obtain American citizenship — with the intention of being raised in China. In his testimony, Schweizer said:

These individuals grow up in China, often educated in CCP-controlled schools with distorted views of U.S. history, values, and culture. They have no lived connection or demonstrated allegiance to our country, yet they possess full rights as U.S. citizens: the ability to vote in elections, relocate here at will, and—upon turning 21—sponsor their parents as permanent residents.

The Daily Wire recently visited several homes in Houston that the State of Texas says are helping Chinese nationals travel to the U.S. on tourist visas “for the sole purpose of giving birth.” The homes are tied to a birthing center that has allegedly facilitated the births of more than 1,000 American-born babies who are then taken back to China. Because the children are born on U.S. soil, they receive birthright citizenship — even though the parents intend to raise the children in China.

Birth tourism often relies on false visa applications — which violates federal law. Now the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be prepared to address the issue.

In a memo released June 30, the DOJ said, “The Department of Justice will investigate and hold accountable those who engage in this unlawful conduct, as well as those who solicit and sell these criminal services to others.” The memo notes that while most of these cases may be prosecuted as visa fraud, prosecutors should consider other possible violations — such as wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft, health care fraud, and others.

Birth tourism wrongly exploits birthright citizenship, but when it’s done in conjunction with commercial surrogacy, it also demeans women and children.

We have written repeatedly how commercial surrogacy laws in the U.S. make it possible for corporations and wealthy couples to pay women thousands of dollars to carry children for them, and news outlets report Chinese nationals are exploiting America’s largely unregulated surrogacy industry to acquire children born in the U.S. with U.S. citizenship.

Last year The Wall Street Journal uncovered how Chinese billionaires are taking advantage of America’s surrogacy industry to create what some call “mega-families” with dozens — or even hundreds — of children. One wealthy Chinese executive allegedly “hired U.S. models and others as egg donors to have 10 girls, with the aim of one day marrying them off to powerful men.”

Arkansas U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and Florida U.S. Senator Rick Scott recently urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate surrogacy centers operated by foreign nationals, writing:

“Recent reports have uncovered more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone. These agencies cater almost exclusively to wealthy Chinese clients, and some are affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities. Chinese nationals pay women living in the United States more than $50,000 to serve as surrogates. The children are born on United States soil and granted automatic citizenship. And in most cases, the infants are promptly flown to China and raised there under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Social commentators and policymakers worldwide have raised concerns about how commercial surrogacy financially pressures women into providing children for paying customers.

That’s part of the reason Family Council has opposed commercial surrogacy in Arkansas.

Commercial surrogacy deliberately deprives children of their biological mothers or fathers.

It treats pregnancy like a “service” that can be purchased.

It treats women like commodities, and it treats children like products that can be made to order and sold for profit.

Human beings are not products that can be manufactured and exported to other countries. Our laws need to respect that fact. Policymakers should take steps to address commercial surrogacy and “birth tourism” in America.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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