A same-sex couple in the UK said they turned to “Colombian fairy godmothers” to be surrogates for the children they conceived using an egg donor, describing the women as “high-quality” and “affordable” — as if they were products.
According to Irelandlive, Shaun Thomas and Paul Brennan wanted to raise children and chose the route of egg ‘donation’ and surrogacy utilizing each of their sperm, because they “liked the idea” of having a “biological connection.” They determined, however, that surrogacy laws in the UK would make it tougher for them to create children. Surrogacy is legal in the UK, but surrogacy contracts are not enforceable by law. If a surrogate is used, she will be considered the baby’s legal parent at birth, and if she is married, her spouse will be considered the child’s other parent at birth. Intended parents are not allowed to pay surrogates in the UK.
The men called these laws “tricky” and decided to research laws in other countries — the U.S., Cyprus, Canada, and others — before settling on Colombia because of its affordability and supposedly “high-quality,” “high class egg donors.”
In the U.S., it would have cost between £145,000 and £200,000 for one child. In Colombia, it would cost just £50,000, and the country is reportedly friendly to same-sex couples. According to Irelandlive:
Shaun and Paul used the same egg donor, with half of the eggs fertilised by Shaun and the other half by Paul to create embryos.
Each set of embryos was transferred to a different surrogate, with their menstrual cycles synchronised to enable transfers on the same day.
This method aimed to “replicate a twin pregnancy”, and both transfers were successful.
One surrogate became pregnant with a girl, Margot, who was created using a donor egg and Shaun’s sperm, and the other surrogate became pregnant with a boy, Tomas, who was created using Paul’s sperm and an egg from the same donor.
The children have the same biological mother, different birth mothers, and different fathers.
Irelandlive reported:
In 2023, Shaun and Paul had three embryos remaining and felt they owed it to themselves to attempt further transfers.
The first transfer failed, the second ended in miscarriage, but the third, using Paul’s sperm, was successful.
Their son, Rian, was born in July 2024.
Children’s rights
While the media paints a happy family portrait, the reality of this endeavor to create babies is that these children were created with the desire of two adult men at the forefront. They were created to intentionally be separated from their mothers — both their biological and birth mothers — and to be deprived of a mother on purpose so that the men could fulfill their dream of a family.
The men wanted a “biological connection” to the children and therefore, did not adopt. But the children lost their biological connection to their ‘donor’ mothers through no fault of their own and with no choice in the matter.
Every child has a right to his or her own mother and father, and everything should be done to protect that bond and relationship. When children are created through donor technology, they often grow up to face identity issues and feel as though they are consumer products that were sold off by one or both of their biological parents. The children’s rights group Them Before Us has gathered countless such stories from people created in this way.
In addition, children taken from their birth mothers can experience trauma that alters and affects their brain function later in life.
When the men had three frozen embryos remaining, the media focused on them choosing to implant those embryos — not because those children they created had a right to their lives, but because the men felt they ‘owed it to themselves.’
Reducing women to baby factories
Labeling women as “high-quality,” “affordable,” “high class” donors and surrogates reduces them to wombs for rent or baby factories, dehumanizing them and the children they are carrying. These men searched the world for the ‘products’ they found that were cheaper in cost while still retaining their “high quality” value.
In other words, they searched for surrogates the same way anyone searches for a bargain.
In addition, these men took it upon themselves to “synchronise” the surrogates’ cycles to ensure they got the so-called ‘twins’ they wanted.
Women and children are human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not treated as though they are part of a business transaction or as machines and products on a baby-making assembly line.
