{"id":276320,"date":"2026-05-19T09:22:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/276320\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:22:45","slug":"surrogacy-is-latest-target-of-florida-ags-anti-abortion-crusade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/276320\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrogacy is latest target of Florida AG\u2019s anti-abortion crusade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida used to be known as the place where people come to retire.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s the place where common sense goes to die \u2014 and where extremism is the norm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the latest example, Florida\u2019s scandal-soaked attorney general, James Uthmeier, decided to intervene in a surrogacy case<\/a> in South Florida where everyone involved was happy \u2014 the new parents and the surrogate mother.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier\u2019s argument: Surrogacy is akin to \u201chuman trafficking.\u201d And \u201cslavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that sounds extreme, it might help to consider some of the motives \u2014 in this case, a politician trying to set a legal precedent that would help him later make a case against abortion. If he could advance the \u201cpersonhood\u201d argument (that embryos or fetuses are people) in a surrogacy case, it would help him attack abortion rights as well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s legal gamesmanship. Except the people affected aren\u2019t pawns. They\u2019re everyday Floridians, many of whom turned to surrogacy after heartbreak.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re women like Marla Neufeld, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who suffered through five painful years of infertility and miscarriages before finally seeking a surrogate.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to be in this position,\u201d Neufeld said. \u201cNobody is doing this just for the fun of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surrogacy process was costly and complicated, but Neufeld and her husband have twin boys who are now 12. \u201cI\u2019m so blessed this process worked,\u201d she said. \u201cA loving family should be able to begin their family without interference from the attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affected women are also people like Ehren McMichael, a kindergarten teacher and Longwood mother of three who decided to become a surrogate after watching her mother slowly die of ALS. In those painful, final moments, McMichael had an epiphany: \u201cWhat better way to grieve and honor my mother than to bring someone else into the world?\u201d<\/p>\n

So, through a service, she was able to help a couple she didn\u2019t even know, one that had endured five miscarriages and two, failed, costly in vitro fertilization attempts.<\/p>\n

See, while Uthmeier was comparing surrogacy to human trafficking and tweeting that \u201cregistered sex offenders and foreigners \u2014 including Chinese nationals \u2014 buy thousands of babies,\u201d I decided to talk to some of the Florida families actually involved in the costly, complex process.<\/p>\n

Their stories were both gut-wrenching and inspiring. And for all those who were comfortable sharing their stories publicly, there were also some who weren\u2019t, including one woman who needed a surrogate because she was born without a uterus or vagina.<\/p>\n

Those are the people Uthmeier is targeting.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier\u2019s insertion into the South Florida case was sketchy from the get-go. The Tampa Bay Times<\/a>, which exposed the legal maneuvering earlier this month, reported that the case involves two men in France who found a Florida woman to be their surrogate. The judge who was being asked to sign off on transferring parental rights to the couple knew he had no legitimate reason not to do so. Everyone involved had followed the law.<\/p>\n

But Judge Marlon Weiss apparently didn\u2019t like the law. So the Times reported that Weiss, \u201cgoing beyond what is typically required in such a case, suggested in his order that surrogacy may be unconstitutional. His ruling holds that if unborn children are entitled to personhood \u2026 those children cannot be subject to an ownership contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where it becomes pretty clear that this ruling wasn\u2019t really about this family at all. This was a judge trying to set legal precedent for the anti-abortion movement \u2014 and trying to score himself a judicial promotion in the process. The Times reported that Weiss later submitted his unorthodox ruling as part of an application to DeSantis for an appellate position.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier then started trying to intervene, comparing surrogacy to slavery with a spokeswoman issuing a statement that said: \u201cThe Attorney General is concerned about any case where a surrogacy company profits off the sale of children; it constitutes modern-day slavery, interferes with a mom\u2019s parental rights, and the rights of the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uthmeier seems to be pouncing on the fact that some surrogates get paid. Well, the reason many get paid isn\u2019t complicated. It can be tough to find a relative or friend who\u2019s ready to spend nine months pregnant for a child they\u2019ll never raise.<\/p>\n

And also because the process can be draining \u2014 emotionally, physically and financially.<\/p>\n

Neufeld, who went on to specialize in fertility and surrogate law after experiencing the process firsthand, stressed that surrogates take on \u201ctremendous physical, emotional, and logistical commitment in the process of helping build a family.\u201d That\u2019s why, she said: \u201cFlorida law appropriately recognizes this by permitting payment of the surrogate\u2019s reasonable living, legal, medical, psychological, and psychiatric expenses directly related\u201d to the pregnancy.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t about enriching a surrogate, Neufeld said, but \u201censuring that the surrogate is not financially disadvantaged for what she is putting her body and life through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Uthmeier had an ideological war to wage. And he\u2019d already proven willing to push legal boundaries to do so.<\/p>\n

That is, after all, what landed him neck deep in the Hope Florida scandal. In that well-documented mess, Uthmeier was part of a scheme that diverted millions of dollars meant to help low-income Floridians access healthcare to a political campaign against abortion and marijuana.<\/p>\n

One GOP lawmaker accused Uthmeier of being \u201cengaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.\u201d Uthmeier disagrees. A grand jury has been reportedly probing the matter.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the two fathers told the Times that Uthmeier \u2014 who was appointed to the post and now needs to win an election if he wants to keep it \u2014 is trying to use surrogacy cases as \u201cpolitical fodder for his campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

If so, he may have gravely miscalculated.<\/p>\n

Some legal experts say Uthmeier\u2018s legal push could imperil IVF and possibly even adoption if the state\u2019s new argument is that any custodial transfer that also involves money is an act of human trafficking. And we\u2019ve seen that kind of legal argument backfire big-time.<\/p>\n

Just two years ago, after an Alabama court issued a ruling that threatened the in vitro process, there was outrage across the political spectrum. So much so that Donald Trump told Alabama lawmakers to rush to protect IVF rights.<\/p>\n

Some faith leaders, particularly in Islam and Catholicism, denounce surrogacy. But the majority of Americans, religious and otherwise, support families having the option and believe struggling parents deserve support, not scorn or legal hurdles. And certainly not accusations that they\u2019re involved in slavery or human trafficking.<\/p>\n

As a mother who needed a surrogate, Neufeld called Uthmeier\u2019s actions \u201creally offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And McMichael, a woman who decided to use her own womb to help fulfill parental dreams for another distraught couple, said: \u201cThis is something that shouldn\u2019t be political.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMichael described her experience of helping as both joyful and inspiring. \u201cI loved being a surrogate,\u201d she said. \u201cI loved how my own children accepted the concept. And I loved teaching them that you can do more than just a food drive to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe not, though, if this state\u2019s attorney general gets his way.<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida used to be known as the place where people come to retire. Now it\u2019s the place where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,15596,4260,117933,117936,117938,117939,807,117937,117935,117934],"class_list":["post-276320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-human-trafficking","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-legal-precedent","tag-marla-neufeld","tag-mcmichael","tag-neufeld","tag-south-florida","tag-surrogacy-case","tag-surrogacy-process","tag-surrogate-mother"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}