Surrogacy in the News

The Fate of Twenty-One Los Angeles Siblings

The New Yorker | May 11, 2026

The 21 children born via different surrogates for a Los Angeles couple have been placed in foster care. The court case regarding the parents’ alleged cruelty toward the children continues. The couple has since had 6 more children via surrogates in several states, all of whom have also been placed in foster care. The number of children involved in the case and their placement in the child welfare system raises questions about limited surrogacy regulations in the U.S.

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Transgender persons ineligible to avail surrogacy services: Centre

Times of India | May 11, 2026

The Indian state of Kerala has several laws supporting the welfare of trans people, and it recently asked the national government to clarify whether trans people were eligible for surrogacy. In response, the national government stated that unmarried or married trans people are not eligible for surrogacy services under existing statutes.

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Ukraine war ‘led me to surrogacy’ to earn money but a new law could end those plans

Sofia Bettiza, BBC News | 05.07.2026

Ukraine’s parliament is considering a bill that would establish stricter regulations over the country’s surrogacy industry and would effectively ban surrogacy access for foreigners, who currently make up over 90% of intended parents. The bill, which has widespread support in parliament, is a response to concerns that Ukraine’s surrogacy industry does not address issues of exploitation of surrogates –– a critique that agencies reject.

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Should surrogates be paid for carrying other people’s babies? And how much would be enough?

The Conversation | May 3, 2026

Australia’s Law Reform Commission is deciding whether to allow compensation for surrogates. Some countries have banned compensation given risks of exploitation. Models proposed in the article include payment comparable to other high income countries or a monthly rate standardized across the country.  Determining a “fair price” is difficult since surrogacy isn’t comparable to other kinds of labor. 

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Surrogacy in Ghana: Legal parenthood, registration, and the rights of the Surrogate

3News | April 28, 2026

Ghana now has statutory recognition of surrogacy, but it still lacks regulation. The current approach to governing surrogacy provides pathways for legal parentage after surrogacy arrangements, but the surrogate’s position remains underdeveloped in the law. 

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Why Nigeria needs urgent surrogacy regulation

The Cable | April 24, 2026

Longstanding issues of human trafficking and exploitation in Nigeria make the increasing use of surrogacy without regulation risky for surrogates and children born from these arrangements. Clear policies that regulate surrogacy, and a commission to develop and enforce such policies, could help orient surrogacy toward family building and away from exploitation.

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Increase in single men having children through surrogacy

The Times | April 21, 2026

Since UK law changed in 2019 to allow single people the same surrogacy rights as couples, the number of single men who have had children via surrogacy has tripled –– but remains a small percentage of surrogacy parental orders overall.

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First person born through gestational surrogacy tells her story as she turns 40

NBC News | April 17, 2026

Jill Brand was the first person born through gestational surrogacy in Michigan in 1986. She and her mother talk about the process by which Jill was conceived and gestated. Jill’s parents also lobbied to change parentage laws in Michigan to accommodate surrogacy arrangements.

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Filipina recruited for surrogacy stopped from leaving PH — BI

Philippine Daily Inquirer | April 12, 2026

The Bureau of Immigration in the Philippines reports that immigration officers stopped a woman in the Manila airport who was traveling to Beijing, and then Tbilisi, Georgia, to be a surrogate. She had been contacted by a recruiter via Facebook and was offered money in exchange for surrogacy services –– a practice regarded as human trafficking by authorities in the Philippines.

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New bill classifies exploiting surrogacy as human trafficking

ERR | April 10, 2026

As part of a broader effort to address human trafficking, draft amendments to Estonian law would identify “exploitation for the purpose of surrogacy” as a form of human trafficking with penalties of up to 7 years of imprisonment.

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