Florida AG: Surrogacy ‘Constitutes Modern-Day Slavery’

In this Live Action article, Nancy Flanders reports that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has intervened in a surrogacy case after a judge suggested such contracts may violate constitutional protections if preborn children are recognized as legal persons.

• The case began after two men in France entered into a surrogacy agreement with a Florida woman and later sought early parental rights before the child was born.
• Judge Marlon Weiss granted the request but wrote that surrogacy may raise constitutional problems if an unborn child is treated as a person rather than property.
• The judge reportedly argued that if preborn children have legal personhood, they cannot be subjected to ownership-style contracts.
• Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier intervened after the court was informed of the baby’s birth.
• Uthmeier’s office is arguing that commercial surrogacy can amount to “modern-day slavery” because companies profit from arrangements involving children.
• The attorney general’s office also raised concerns about foreign citizens using surrogacy to obtain American-born children.
• The office cited additional worries about child safety, including cases in which sex offenders have allegedly used alternative means to obtain children.
• The article notes that the case is ongoing, limiting the availability of details.
• Live Action frames the dispute as part of a broader legal battle over personhood, parental rights, abortion, and surrogacy.

Read the full story: https://www.liveaction.org/news/florida-ag-surrogacy-constitutes-modern-day-slavery