Surrogate in custody battle appeals to Supreme Court over care for sick baby
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/us/surrogate-custody-battle-supreme-court4.0k
u/buttsmagoo222 1d ago
the baby has already undergone one open heart surgery? they're obviously doing what they can do for him. this lady is insane and needs to leave them the hell alone.
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u/FlyOnTheWall221 1d ago
What a horrible woman, literally forced this baby to suffer and now is claiming that his parents aren’t going to care for him when that’s literally what they’re doing. There are some seriously unhinged people out there. People considering surrogacy now have to worry about things like this too.
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u/malibuklw 1d ago
They’ve always had to worry about this. Surrogacy is not a well regulated practice, and there’s lots of legal issues that can come up regardless of what was decided on ahead of time
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago edited 1d ago
A friend of mine had given a baby up for an adoption to a couple and after about 6 years they came back and ask her if she would be surrogate again so their child could have a biological sibling. It was an open adoption, she loved the couple and her bio daughter very much, she agreed and in the 7th month of the pregnancy, the couple announced they were splitting and were no longer interested in adopting a baby in the mix. So then she was left with another baby and ultimately putting them up for adoption again because due to personal complications while she can carry a child she can’t raise one. She acted in best faith and it broke her, it’s been a half a decade and she’s still recovering from it mentally.
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u/opheliainthedeep 1d ago
What the fuck
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago
Yup. And she wasn’t paid to do it. She just legitimately thought it would be the best thing for everyone (she always put other people before herself). It’s changed her a lot, which I think is understandable, and almost sent her off the edge.
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u/RagingOrgyNuns 1d ago
There are issues that can come up with compensating surrogates beyond a stipend and medical expenses. Namely, you don't want someone to act as a "pimp" and create a farm of surrogates. It also would disproportionately target low-income women who would be more vulnerable.
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve never really looked into it much myself as someone who never has had/will have kids by choice but I recall seeing an ad sometime back in the mid-2000s advertising 60k plus medical expenses covered for surrogacy which seemed like a LOT of money at the time. (Note; I was also youngish and had 0 idea of what went into the process at the time of being pregnant or giving birth, let alone would have considered the emotional ramifications that could be involved.)
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u/soggybutter 1d ago
I know that 7-10 years ago the going price for JUST egg retrieval/donorship was $30-50k with the agency i signed up with. Nobody ever picked my specific genetics, but i was close enough that i was making appointments to start doing the injections multiple times. Everything about it is wild and while i do still like the concept of a very loved and desired baby version of myself out there, i am glad it never happened. It would have lived in my mind in ways my 25 year old self couldnt have understood.
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u/BlackThornberry 1d ago
It’s less than poverty wages for the amount of time a woman spends preparing for implantation, gestating, birthing, and recovering post-partum. And that’s if everything goes well - there is no insurance or hazard pay if she develops pregnancy complications, chronic illness or temporary/permanent disability or death. Commercial surrogacy is disgusting.
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u/flowerpawt 1d ago
It’s less than poverty wages but if it’s paid in a lump sum it’s more money than they would have at one time. It’s difficult to save when you’re already poor.
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u/Plooza 14h ago
Surrogacy compensation is not meant to replace your income. It’s not a lot for what you do but you’re really doing because you feel a deeper need to support another person but giving them something they desperately want. Surrogates in the US won’t even be approved if they are in poverty or low income. Your compensation is taxed (criminal), so it could put you in a different tax bracket. If a low income woman is in a higher bracket, she loses access to her benefits, so low income women are not allowed to be surrogates. I have been a surrogate twice and have met tons and tons of other surrogates, not a single woman was forced into this, we are doing it because there is a deeper calling. If you don’t have that calling, it’s fine. But it’s just how some people feel
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u/trottingturtles 1d ago
That's exactly how surrogacy works in some countries
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u/E0H1PPU5 1d ago
That’s exactly how adoption works in a lot of countries too. It’s just human trafficking pretending to be humanitarianism.
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u/eredria 1d ago
Holy shit, your poor friend and both of those children involved. I'm just imagining the six year old knowing they're going to have a sibling soon and then just BAM parents split and unborn sibling gone... I don't know if I would ever be able to trust anyone again after something like that.
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u/two4six0won 1d ago
I wasn't much older than that when my parent and their then-SO split up, a few months after my first half-sibling was born. I had been so excited for a sibling for so long. It's a mindfuck for sure.
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago
I’m so sorry that happened to you and your sibling. Were you able to stay in contact with them at all?
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u/ManicParroT 1d ago
This kind of stuff is why surrogacy should be banned. People think contracts can fix everything when they really can't.
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago
I’m definitely team adopt from foster care or ethically based on her experience alone, I’m not usually one to go by anecdotal examples but it’s just beyond fucked up what happened to her as well as the kids. I’m really lucky she’s still with us because mentally she went through some extreme lows because of it. I’ve considered fostering if my own mental health issues ever stabilize for long enough to consider such a thing , I’ve looked at foster children in my state, many who are up for adoption, and it’s heartbreaking how many kids have been looking for homes for literally years (I tend to check the foster site periodically in my state and usually end up crying by the time I’m done). But I also know for some people that’s not an appealing option.
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u/ManicParroT 1d ago
I think adoption and fostering are both great responses to an imperfect world. Kids need parents and sometimes their own parents can't do a good job, either temporarily or permanently, so someone else steps up.
Surrogacy is like "I want a kid but I want it to be related to me so we're going to use someone else to make it and ignore all the ways in which this can go wrong, and anyway we have a contract so that's OK."
At its best it's very optimistic and at its worst it smacks of baby selling.
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago
I sometimes think people don’t realize the spectrum of kids in the foster system either. Like it’s not always a high-needs child, although if you can’t handle that I understand (honestly if I fostered I would probably foster a child with trauma since I keep my head very well on with that sort of thing- I have extensive experience with my nephew who was neglected and have only ever once raised my voice to him and that was over an immediate safety issue. He eventually learned we have rules for a reason and they are to protect him, not to punish him, and he’s now a 19 year old spectacular, well-adjusted human being I am so proud of).
I’m lucky to have an extensive resource system in place to either get the right referrals or get them in with the right people. So I do hope I can be in that position someday. For me it’s definitely that thing of if there are kids in the world and you want to get a surrogate it should be the default instead. But what do I know.
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u/greenzetsa 21h ago
I don't think people ignore what can go wrong, I mean that is literally what the contract is for and it should stipulate circumstances (and often does) for what happens if the couple splits. We had to indicate what we planned to do if we divorced on a dog adoption form, I imagine any reputable agency is asking people about that.
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u/Diaryofdisquiet 1d ago
Reminds me of all the babies that were abandoned by their biological parents during COVID and the Ukraine war, because once it became complicated to get to them, they just left them to become the surrogate's problem.
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u/BeamMeUpBabes 1d ago
I am so so sorry to hear that happened to your friend. My heart is breaking for her, it is such a nightmare scenario that I bet she never could have imagined happening. Surrogacy really scared the hell out of me for all parties involved
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u/HoBaggyPants 1d ago
A friend of mine had given a baby up for an adoption to a couple and after about 6 years they came back and ask her if she would be surrogate again so their child could have a biological sibling.
Was the first baby a surrogate situation for the couple?
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u/FerretBusinessQueen 1d ago
No, it was not. She got pregnant, didn’t want to abort but didn’t want to keep the baby, and they were whom she ultimately decided with the agency to place the first child with. Thanks for clarifying, my wording was poor.
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u/soggybutter 1d ago
There is a reason surrogacy for pay is illegal in essentially every other "first world" country.
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u/hera-fawcett 1d ago
u dont ever see wealthy women being surrogates.
its a form of exploitation, no matter how well intentioned.
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u/dasmiedoteresa 1d ago
I hope less people consider surrogacy tbh.
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u/SavathunTechQuestion 1d ago
Yeah, I was pretty neutral on the practice but then the story last year in Wired about Cindy Bi ruining the surrogate's life changed my mind.
I think internet archive is working as a static link for the full story, https://web.archive.org/web/20251230015319/https://www.wired.com/story/the-baby-died-whose-fault-is-it-surrogate-pregnancy/
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u/ginny11 1d ago
Oh my God, I remember this story. It's so nuts and so is that woman!
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u/danbilllemon 16h ago edited 15h ago
Reading it now and I despise her. Her name is Cindy Bi for anyone interested, and is basically a prime example of everything wrong with surrogacy.
> Bi seemed betrayed by the challenges of third-party reproduction. “Surrogacy is supposed to be the safest route,” she wrote on Instagram.
Yes, for her, which was clearly the only thing she’s ever cared about. (The beginning of the article is clear that it is not in anyway the safest route for the Gestational Carriers 🤮)
Eta: it just gets worse and worse, these people are human monsters
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u/two4six0won 1d ago
I'm getting the paywall even with the archive link, I'll go look up other sources but figured you should know
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u/Palomino_mare 1d ago
I still couldn’t see the story. Can you give me a brief summary?
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u/FlyOnTheWall221 1d ago
I feel bad for people who can’t carry to term. I’m pregnant right now and it’s so hard. I can’t imagine having a heart issue or other health concerns that would make it difficult to be a parent. Adoption has its own issues as well so it seems like parenthood for some is even more difficult even if you have the financial means.
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u/UnderlightIll 1d ago
I mean, it sucks, but it happens. No one is entitled to have biological children or rent someone's uterus. I will never have a child and likely never could without heavy interference. I made peace with that. My husband and I were always on the fence but when I had a large dermoid and Endo, we decided I should do the hysterectomy. It's just not in the cards.
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u/little-bird89 1d ago
I'm someone who has had multiple miscarriages (having one after a successful IUI right now) and lives in a country where adoption basically doesn't exist. I've never considered surrogacy myself but if I had crazy money I could easily see being in a headspace where it seems like the best option.
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u/myfakesecretaccount 1d ago
I’m so sorry for your loss. No one understands what it means to lose a child before you’ve even had a chance to hold them until it happens to them.
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u/Holiday-Hustle 1d ago
The only time I think it works is if you have a very close sibling or friend willing to carry. These stranger ones just seem so awful.
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u/dorkofthepolisci 1d ago
In most industrialized countries surrogacy is regulated to a much greater extent than the US. In several industrialized nation states only altruistic surrogacy is allowed (you can daisy with direct costs, but nothing else) while commercial surrogacy is not
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u/Existing-Pumpkin-902 1d ago
Personally I think a lot of the issues in the US are lack of regulation and allowing international situations. If we limited surrogacy to us citizens and residents and had codified federal laws I think it would be a lot smoother. Though I would be very wary of this administration taking the lead. There was that crazy story of the Chinese billionaire having dozens of surrogates in the US. Truly wild.
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u/lace8402 1d ago
Because those are the ones you're hearing about, you're not hearing about the success stories. I have successfully made 3 families' dreams come true by carrying their children. I did not know them, but now we have extended family. We're going to France to visit one family next month and hopefully to San Franscisco to see the other 2 next spring. The stories in the news are outliers, most of the time everything happens uneventfully and families grow happily.
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u/Not_floridaman 1d ago
I absolutely love being pregnant but do not want to add anymore kids to my family. I wish I could be a surrogate but I've developed lupus and RA so that's no longer an option.
I think it's an amazing thing you've done for those families.
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u/lace8402 1d ago
Thank you so much and I'm sorry to hear about your medical conditions that prevent you from being a surrogate. It truly is a rewarding experience.
I swore this last baby was it and I was done, but then this psycho came out in the news. I want to do one more just because I know I'm a good surrogate! Silly reason, I know. We'll see what the future holds.
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u/endlesscartwheels 1d ago
Yours is the most important post in this thread. So many people are eager to speak for gestational surrogates and "protect" them. Best for the surrogates to speak for themselves.
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u/lace8402 23h ago
I've wanted to defend and speak up on other posts, but I've just kept to myself. It appears a lot of people are anti-surrogacy, for whatever reason. Honestly, I didn't think my comment would even be seen. Ha.
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u/crossedstaves 1d ago
Pregnancy is brutal on the human body, it alters cognition and dysregulates emotions. We always want to pretend it's such a clean thing but it's just not. Maybe she's horrible, or maybe she's been royally fucked up by the drastic changes the body goes through. I certainly can't say, but as a society we are really shit at acknowledging the toll pregnancy takes on a person
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u/awry_lynx 1d ago
Paid surrogacy is an ethical minefield. Nobody is entitled to rent someone else's body to grow and birth a baby. I don't agree with the surrogate's actions here at all, to be clear, but I also don't agree with the practice of compensated surrogacy whatsoever. Altruistic surrogacy is one thing, but when you throw money into the mix it becomes perverse.
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u/Original-Strain 1d ago edited 1d ago
She’s also being sued for full custody by her actual baby daddy because she took, legally considered kidnapping, her child across state lines when she fled AK
Edited: corrected the state
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u/jaderust 1d ago
Alaska. The surrogate originally lived in Alaska. It's the biological parents who live in California.
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u/Specific-Yam-2166 1d ago
Actually a different child that already existed prior to all of this. I know, it just gets worse.
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u/AutismAndChill 1d ago
The worst part of this is even if baby is on hospice like the surrogate is so worried about, children are still eligible for treatment while on hospice, even additional surgery. It’s literally part of the hospice regulations that they’re allowed that (unlike grown adults).
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u/Low-Peak-9031 1d ago
All the Facebook crazies are cheering her on too, saying the biological parents don't deserve baby because they wanted to abort. It's gross.
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u/Critical_Mass_1887 1d ago
Yet those crazy pro birthers cant manage to see the insane harm they cause by forcing a child with unthinkable conditions to be born and go through what limited life they have is cruel and selfish. That when the parents pass away if the children live long enough, those children go to state facilities. What care do they think they will get there...
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u/jaderust 1d ago
And I just know, I KNOW, that if the baby gets the best medical care possible but still dies these insane people are still going to blame the bio parents. Even though they're doing their absolute best considering this insane situation they've found themselves in.
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u/smittydoodle 1d ago
They only care about unborn babies. Now that he’s here, they don’t care if he suffers.
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u/Knitnspin 1d ago
AND they are having to care for this infant away from home, family, possibly their other children, support, with additional expenses for being away from home, jobs, etc. clearly all while knowing they will never be able to recoup any of it from her.
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u/wwaxwork 1d ago
Read up on the type of surgery. It's brutal what that poor baby is going through and still not likely to survive.
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u/Landon1m 1d ago
She needs to be required to pay for all medical expenses for this child for the entirety of its life. She ignores her agreement with the parents and chose to take matters into her own hands. That should have consequences
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u/PoeDameronPoeDamnson 21h ago
With his condition he’ll need another 3 before he is 1. If he survives all of them he has a good chance of making it to 5 but the vast majority do not survive the rapid fire surgeries
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u/mokutou 1d ago
The surrogate is fucking insane. She’s trying to play political football, on a national level, with a critically ill newborn. From all accounts the baby is not tolerating the first surgery well, and she’d drag that poor child through exhaustive, and perhaps futile, procedures for her own reasons, while simultaneously dragging the baby’s bio-parents through the worst depths of hell. I sincerely cannot believe how unhinged she is.
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u/ScarletCarsonRose 1d ago
There are reasons why many parents choose to abort if there is HLHS. The left ventricle and aorta do not function because for whatever reason, they did not grow properly. The surgeries don't have great odds and even if "successful", their are lifelong heart issues. Bless parents who choose to try but I can not blame them if they don't want to put a child through that.
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u/mokutou 1d ago
There are also varying degrees of severity. Some kids are able to handle the surgeries and thrive. Others it’s a Hail Mary with the slimmest chance of success, and even that success may just be buying a little extra time and relative comfort.
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u/Deem216 1d ago
2 years ago, a friend from due date group lost her 5 year old. The child got 2 of the 3 surgeries but didn’t make it to the 3rd. It was devastating. 💔
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u/CletoParis 1d ago
Ugh, yep I had a friend who lost her second baby to HLHS. She survived only about 24 hrs after birth, it was truly devastating.
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u/HDr1018 1d ago
I haven’t found any child that’s thrived. The two immediate surgeries are a great risk, as is all the medication and preparation for the next surgery.
But these kids don’t have much of a chance for a pain free, or normal life. Honestly, I believe that each child that endures the medical protocols, the greatest benefit is to the medical community, to the next child. No one can be an expert in saving repairing this kind of defect without practice. And each operation is practice. It is such a difficult place to be, every day you would be faced with deciding again and again what your child must suffer, for what gain.
The burden these parents were given by genetics is enough; they shouldn’t have to endure this court case. The ADL, the Republican Party, the Heritage Foundation; they’re happy to ruin lives to get to their goals. It’s despicable our courts are used to force the cruelty being inflicted.
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u/mokutou 1d ago
I suppose I should say “relatively thrive.” A former coworker’s daughter has HLHS and has had the first two procedures. She attends school, is on the cheer squad, is a little social butterfly, and is just being a kid. Of course her life is vastly different from her peers due to her condition, and her medical needs (current and future) are complex, but overall, still a happy kid. I also went to high school with a guy who also had HLHS, and he passed at 19 from sudden complications. Some HLHS kids get lucky, others don’t. It’s so case-by-case, but I can 100% understand why someone would choose TFMR when faced with such a diagnosis for their baby.
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u/HDr1018 1d ago
I’m glad to hear there’s a range and it’s not terrible all the time. I’m sure the parents of both wouldn’t give up knowing their child for anything.
Most of us don’t know what’s ahead for us, but some parents are unfortunate to know the hard stuff ahead of time. I’m happy to have escaped that.
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u/HDr1018 1d ago
She’s not insane. She’s working with the same group that brought down Roe. This is a planned concerted effort that will lead to birth control being banned.
The ADF Alliance Defending Freedom has been looking for a case, and they found it with this child, and have been working with McKenna since she was asked to get an abortion. If not her, there would be another case.
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u/your-average-student 1d ago
Funny how freedom means something totally different to these crazy ass far right wing groups than it does to the average person. Freedom of choice doesn’t seem like it should be that hard of a concept to grasp
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u/Snakesinadrain 1d ago
Shes taking a paycheck and doing what she's told. There's zero chance this is organic.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 1d ago
Correct. She’s a stalking horse.
The fact that the parents are Muslim is just a bonus.
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u/Xilizhra 1d ago
Surrogacy is like keeping a suitcase with a million dollars in it in someone else's house. If you don't know and trust someone enough not to run off with that, don't trust them with a fetus.
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u/Moonlightsiesta 1d ago
Yeah, I doubt the parents will ever try again. They’ll probably give up on having a kid altogether and be childless and nobody would blame them.
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u/theamp18 1d ago
Oh...there's the grift. I'm sure she will be begging for donations soon
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u/mokutou 1d ago
She already has been, and has outright said none of it will go towards the baby’s care. It’s for her legal and travel expenses.
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u/a_master_debater 1d ago
Why would anyone assume money given to her would go to the baby's care when she has a restraining order preventing her from even seeing him.
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u/PumpkinPieIsGreat 1d ago
There was another family asking for legal expenses in their go fund me, and it got pulled down by go fund me because apparently it's against their terms of service. Then they took that part out and reposted it.
Grifters gonna grift. This woman sounds insufferable. Every time I see an article about her I feel angry.
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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago
I am willing to bet she secured the bag before she even started this mess. This stuff is orchestrated from the top down almost every time.
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u/FillMySoupDumpling 1d ago
Yep. There was no reason for her to go to Texas. She’s a grifter through and through.
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u/stolenfires 1d ago edited 1d ago
Texas automatically considers the surrogate the legal mother, so she had a lot more rights delivering in Texas than elsewhere.
EDIT: Or not, see reply to this comment for more info.
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u/FillMySoupDumpling 1d ago
I’ll have to correct you here as it depends on the type of surrogacy. Even a Texas judge in the case granted the bio parents custody of the baby.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article316926546.html
This goes into more detail.
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u/dorkofthepolisci 1d ago
Iirc there are a few other states that don’t automatically recognize commercial surrogacy
Texas was definitely a political choice
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u/CafeEspresso 1d ago
Im out of the loop on all of this. What are people talking about concerning grifting? Who is paying/supporting her?
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u/mwilkens 1d ago
Pro-life groups. The surrogates wanted to abort the baby when they found out about the heart defect.
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u/Saboteure 1d ago
She couldn’t possibly have predicted the condition would be present in the baby. All of this happened after that came into play. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had actual moral objections and then the greed came into play later with some funder.
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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago
That's where I am. I don't think she set out to do this from the beginning, but once the complications became clear this avenue became an option.
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u/sailorangel59 23h ago
Depending on the contact she could've received a base amount upon becoming the surrogate, and then once she actually delivered the baby she would receive the remaining amount. It's possible that within the contract termination would mean that she wouldn't receive the final payout. It could be argued that greed was there from the beginning.
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u/Wombattington 1d ago
This chick is absolutely nuts. If Texas wouldn’t give her custody she needs to let it go. It’s not her child.
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u/hailsyeahhh 1d ago
She wants information regarding and control over this baby’s medical care?! A baby she has no legal right to, that is not hers. She’s insane. His parents are providing him medical care, she got her wish she forced this poor child to be born and endure all of this. She needs to fly her happy ass back to Alaska and leave them alone.
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u/Weightmonster 1d ago
Not to mention, care for her 2 children.
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u/danseaveclalune 1d ago
3 kids to be exact. I thought it was 2 until the father of the youngest son came out suing her for full custody.
She kidnapped 2 kids technically 😭
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u/FlyOnTheWall221 1d ago
The article says she thinks the parents aren’t going to offer him care when they literally are, she is a horrible human being for torturing the child and his parents.
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u/freedfg 1d ago
There it is.
And then the president will pick it up as a cause. And the culture war goes on. And on. And the supreme Court sets precedence. And rights are stripped further.
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u/Specific-Yam-2166 1d ago
I don’t think Ken Paxton cares about this anymore. That was his plan for like 2 weeks.
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u/slobis 1d ago
They will and suddenly MAGA will all be in favor of free healthcare for single mothers.
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u/Pretend_Handle_7639 1d ago
Nah, the only reason they like this case is a Christian fetus incubator stole a Muslim couple's baby
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u/buttsmagoo222 1d ago
there's a distinct racism in this case that's being deliberately overlooked made especially clear by the birthing person trying to call the baby by a traditionally white christian name despite the baby being a lab grown embryo created from the parents DNA
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u/damagecontrolparty 1d ago
According to Muslim tradition, the angel Gabriel (Jibril) dictated the Koran to Muhammad. The surrogate probably didn't know that.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 1d ago
The baby’s name is Rumi. But no, the surrogate calls him Gabriel.
I despise these people so much. Just so much cruelty, for no purpose except gratification.
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u/Rubthebuddhas 1d ago
Calm down there, Satan. Protecting women and children is definitely NOT a priority the MAGA. It's downright un-American.
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u/CD_ABC10 1d ago
Mind you, her baby daddy is suing her because she abandoned her real birth children...
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u/lovecomplex33 1d ago
That should be more public.
Everyone is thinking she’s some savior and the parents don’t want the baby.
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u/my600catlife 1d ago
I was wondering where her kids were when this came out because agencies require surrogates to already have a child of their own.
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u/Specific-Yam-2166 1d ago
The parents are literally providing lifesaving care. McKenna kidnapped their baby. She should be in prison.
I’m willing to bet all those far righters that pretended like they would champion her have dropped her
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u/Madgenta 1d ago
Ken Paxton sure as shit did right after the baby was born.
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u/Specific-Yam-2166 1d ago
Yep. Good old berry eye has more important things to worry about, like ranting about James Talarico’s belief in 6 genders to a crowd of 3 while wearing shoes that are much too big for him
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u/ReineLeNoire 1d ago
Why has no one asked her if she will absolve the bio parents of all responsibility, including financial, if she, or her brother, are given custody?
I feel like custody is a very specific request. She isn't asking the bio parents to sign away their rights and disappear. She wants custody and the sole right to make medical decisions but not parent the child. The baby would go to her brother. So she doesn't want the baby either.
That doesn't make sense.
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u/LirielsWhisper 1d ago
My understanding is she wants the biological parents to still pay.
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u/ReineLeNoire 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's my point.
This smells like a complex cash grab.
Hypothetically speaking...
The surrogate would be the only party who could make decisions. The brother would have custody. The parents would be on the hook for the financial support of all the surrogate's decisions AND child support.
If the surrogate and her brother prevailed, I would expect a motion to be filed immediately requesting ongoing payment for services including caregiving, housing, transportation, and anything else they can think of in addition to medical expenses and child support.
Throw in crowdfunding, the speaking and appearance fees, books, etc.
Baby=ka-ching
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u/LirielsWhisper 1d ago
It's honestly so bizarre when you do anything more than a cursory look. Like, I understand anyone can sue for any reason, but i feel like her attorneys should be sanctioned for this shit.
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u/NapkinZhangy 1d ago
The surrogate is a massive piece of shit for everything she has done.
Purposely signed a contract with an abortion clause knowing damn well she would never get one, thus wasting everyone's time
Declined abortion and ran to Texas
Tries to sue for custody
Again, what a huge POS lol. She's exactly someone MAGA can rally behind.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 1d ago
She doesn’t even want to take custody of the baby. She wants her brother to take him.
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u/Lighthouse_on_Mars 1d ago
This is one reason why most first world countries ban Surrogacy programs.
- Your outing a price on renting a human freaking body.
- Your completely downplaying the emotional aspect of having a child and giving it away. (Even if your eggs aren't used, it's not uncommon for a woman to get attached to the baby she is carrying, even if she legitimately didn't mean, or ever intended to)
- If anyone involved backs out,n these is really no clear cut way to handle it because again, it's a HUMAN life! Not a refrigerator!
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u/jayne-eerie 1d ago
I sympathized with the surrogate about not wanting to have an abortion, but at this point she just seems to have a vendetta against the actual parents. She hasn’t seen this baby since he was born and she wants custody on the basis of something his parents said when his condition was diagnosed in utero? Craziness.
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u/Which-Decision 1d ago
Why? They NEVER were trying to forve her to have an abortion. They had a medical team in California picked out for the baby and she ran to Texas to try to steal the baby.
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u/jaderust 1d ago
Right? Even though a surrogacy contract gives requirements on whether the surrogate is expected to terminate or not based on what the various scans and genetic tests during pregnancy reveal... There is literally no doctor in the US that would perform a forced abortion if the pregnant person didn't want it. She could have stayed in Alaska and given birth and the bio parents couldn't have forced her to terminate. She would have been in breech of contract, I don't know if that means she'd still be paid or not, but they couldn't force her to a doctor's office against her will.
Running away to Texas and all this is just performative theater. I mean, she's not even related to the baby at all. Yes, she gave birth to it but genetically it is not hers and she always knew that.
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u/jayne-eerie 1d ago
Exactly. I understand she signed a contract, but 23 weeks is late for an abortion — at that point, you’re basically having an induced stillbirth, with all the pain and potential for complications that entails. Nobody should have to go through that if she isn’t totally on board. But everything she’s done since she realized she could use it as pro-life grift is, well, grifty.
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u/LucyJones18 1d ago
Totally “on board”? It’s not her child nor her decision. She shouldn’t be a surrogate if she’s can’t deal with the potential risks. She’s a lunatic.
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u/jayne-eerie 1d ago
Sure, she’s a loon. It’s still her body and therefore her choice. I agree she shouldn’t have signed the contract if she wasn’t okay with the possibility of abortion, but you could also argue the couple shouldn’t have used a surrogate if they wanted absolute control.
Imagine a hypothetical where the surrogate has severe hyperemesis and wants to abort for the sake of her own health. I would hope we’d agree the couple doesn’t get to tell her she can’t. She might be violating the contract and they can deal with that legally, but just as you can’t force somebody to stay pregnant when she doesn’t want to be, you can’t make her have an abortion either.
To be clear, it sounds like the couple asked — which is their right — she said no, and they adjusted. The story should have ended there.
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u/NumerousLocksmith977 1d ago
This is what I keep coming back to - it's not her child, but it IS her body. You can't contract away your right to bodily autonomy. You cannot be forced to undergo an unwanted abortion.
I've seen a few people say "she knew the risks when she signed up to be a surrogate". That's true. But the same is true for the parents. They equally knew the risks when they signed up to use a surrogate. One of the risks is that the surrogate will not consent to abort if the parents want it. If they couldn't handle that risk, they shouldn't have used a surrogate
To be clear I agree with you that the surrogate is a grifter and a lunatic. But that's based on her behaviour surrounding the issue, not based on her exercising her right to bodily autonomy
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u/hummingroots 22h ago
Bio parents were even okay with her not having an abortion and set up everything for baby to be born in CA, and have best medical care, but this nut case said "fuck that" and kidnapped the baby to TX to try and establish custody. I don't think the first part is talked about enough. She didn't "run away from forced abortion" as many claim, she literally just kidnapped the baby for the grift
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u/jayne-eerie 22h ago
Agreed. Granted we don’t know what exactly was said during the initial conversation, but the parents seem to be trying to get the best possible care for their son now that he’s here. We can’t say the same for the surrogate.
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u/Double_Resort_9223 22h ago
I feel like we always knew a case like this could come up for the past 20 or so years as a hypothetical that you discuss in a medical ethics class, but things just got crazy enough for someone to go through with it. This should trigger a lot more regulation around surrogacy but I’m not sure it will.
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u/Leigho7 1d ago
Fuck this lady. We did a tfmr for HLHS and this story has confirmed so much of the reason why we made that choice.
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u/wittor 22h ago
This woman is a criminal, she run away after the family organised the cere for the child.
All media is hiding this information, when she refused to terminate, they follow her decision and started preparations for her to deliver the baby safely and for him to have the care he needed.
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u/tangyturquoise 1d ago
I have been commenting about how much of a shady grifter this woman is since day one. But what was up with the rumor going around that the couple was a gay couple?!? This is the first time I've seen them pictured, and I now see it’s clearly a man and a woman. Why were the first articles calling them a gay couple??
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u/__thatbitch 1d ago
There was another situation recently with a surrogate for a gay couple. Child had a cleft lip and the parents wanted to abort. The stories are getting conflated
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u/endlesscartwheels 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because the right-wing has a standard set of lies. For instance, when there's a shooting, they'll immediately speculate that the shooter was antifa, Muslim, a Democrat, gay, or trans. People hear that and think it's the truth; they don't hear the correct information that only becomes available hours or days later.
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u/Conflixxion 1d ago
which is why headlines always work. No one sees the retraction story days/weeks later.
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u/azurepandora 1d ago
I suspect she's not doing this for the child's well-being, but for clout. Or a bit of money. There is no way I believe her intentions are well meant.
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u/Myfourcats1 1d ago
The people who latched onto her did it because they wanted surrogacy and IVF at the Supreme Court. You need to realize that these religious people oppose these practices. IVF results in embryos being thrown away. To them that’s murder. Creating a bunch and placing them with the expectation that only one with implant is also murder to them. They’re using this loony woman to further their own agenda. They will toss her aside when they’re done and she will have a bunch of lawsuits on her plate.
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u/leefloor 1d ago
Who is paying for all these legal services?
This stuff isn’t cheap.
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u/Carbonatite 1d ago
GoFundMe donations. So, right wing suckers. A fool and his money are soon parted.
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u/xbucnasteex 1d ago
She surrogate has no ties to the baby, she knew what she was getting into since she signed the contract. This lady is just straight up trying to steal a baby.
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u/qosthanatos 1d ago
It’s insane stories like this that make me understand why surrogacy isn’t allowed in some other countries. Not to say that’s right or wrong, but what a massive headache for everyone involved. Besides the lunatic surrogate, apparently
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u/No_Wrongdoer466 1d ago
Get out of red states... for real.. your life depends on it.
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u/mokutou 1d ago
That isn’t really relevant to this case. The contract was negotiated in California, but the surrogate flew to Texas to take advantage of their abhorrent laws.
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u/Violoner 1d ago
So, she crossed state lines with someone else’s child. Sounds like felony abduction.
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u/mokutou 1d ago
No, she fled to Texas while still pregnant, and delivered there. Conveniently, personhood doesn’t come into play until birth in that instance. 😒
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u/RedApple655321 1d ago
She’s appealing a Texas court that ruled in favor of the baby’s parents. Red state has nothing to do with this.
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u/No-Physics1146 1d ago
She fled to Texas specifically because she thought they’d be friendly to her and Paxton obtained a court order requiring the baby to stay in Texas until custody was decided. I don’t know if I’d say it had nothing to do with it.
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u/OldSweetMoney 1d ago
This is not the surrogate's baby, full stop. She was a rented uterus. People don't like to hear that but it's true. She has also said in other stories that she won't keep the baby but will give it to her brother.
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u/AutismAndChill 1d ago
The worst part of this is even if baby is on hospice like the surrogate is so worried about, children are still eligible for life saving treatment. It’s literally part of the hospice regulations that they’re allowed that (unlike grown adults).
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u/kasiagabrielle 1d ago
I hope the surrogate receives the mental health resources she needs. Best to Baby Rumi.
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u/Ohkermie 1d ago
She has her own biological children she’s neglecting for this.