The Details:

The bill, the Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids in Domestic Surrogacy (SAFE KIDS) Act, would prevent children born to American surrogates from being sold to couples overseas who live in "adversarial nations."

According to a press release from Scott's office, the proposed legislation "addresses gaps in U.S. surrogacy law by:

• Invalidating any commercial surrogacy agreement that is entered into with a citizen of a foreign adversarial nation; and

• Creating a misdemeanor for brokers—not surrogates—who knowingly or recklessly facilitate a prohibited commercial surrogacy agreement with citizens from a foreign adversarial nation."

Scott claimed, "America’s surrogacy system is meant to help individuals build families – it should never be the avenue to allow abuse, neglect, or deceit of innocent women and babies. And it’s terrifying that this might be at the hands of foreign adversaries with the sole intent of having a child that is a U.S. citizen."

Surrogacy business owner sentenced to two years for scamming clients

"We’ve already seen troubling cases of human trafficking and abuse linked to international surrogacy schemes, as our foreign adversaries prove willing to exploit every loophole they can to destroy us. We must take action. My SAFE KIDS Act puts a stop to Communist China and other foreign adversaries’ efforts to harm children, women, and our national security.”

Zoom Out:

Scott's bill comes following the exposure of at least one illegal surrogacy ring in which U.S. women were duped into thinking that they were providing surrogacy services for American families, only to later discover that the intended family was fake, and the child the woman carried and gave birth to was later sold overseas.

In July, Live Action News reported on an illegal ring operating in California, which was ultimately called a "national security threat." An investigation revealed that Future Springs Surrogacy was allegedly operating as a for-profit baby selling business and arranging for women to be surrogates without any intended parents. The children born were ultimately sold in China.

The Bottom Line:

Unfortunately, surrogacy is already an "avenue to allow abuse, neglect, or deceit of innocent women and babies." Surrogacy creates trauma by intentionally creating a child for the purpose of separating him or her from the one familiar heartbeat and voice he or she has known from the womb.

Even well-intentioned legislation cannot fully protect children and women from commodification and trafficking during the surrogacy process. All surrogacy arrangements — in which a child is created to fulfill an adult's desires and then a woman's womb is rented and a child is exchanged — inherently commodify both the woman and the child.

The best legislation would ban surrogacy outright.

The bill, the Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids in Domestic Surrogacy (SAFE KIDS) Act, would prevent children born to American surrogates from being sold to couples overseas who live in "adversarial nations."

According to a press release from Scott's office, the proposed legislation "addresses gaps in U.S. surrogacy law by:

• Invalidating any commercial surrogacy agreement that is entered into with a citizen of a foreign adversarial nation; and

• Creating a misdemeanor for brokers—not surrogates—who knowingly or recklessly facilitate a prohibited commercial surrogacy agreement with citizens from a foreign adversarial nation."

Scott claimed, "America’s surrogacy system is meant to help individuals build families – it should never be the avenue to allow abuse, neglect, or deceit of innocent women and babies. And it’s terrifying that this might be at the hands of foreign adversaries with the sole intent of having a child that is a U.S. citizen."

Surrogacy business owner sentenced to two years for scamming clients

"We’ve already seen troubling cases of human trafficking and abuse linked to international surrogacy schemes, as our foreign adversaries prove willing to exploit every loophole they can to destroy us. We must take action. My SAFE KIDS Act puts a stop to Communist China and other foreign adversaries’ efforts to harm children, women, and our national security.”

Zoom Out:

Scott's bill comes following the exposure of at least one illegal surrogacy ring in which U.S. women were duped into thinking that they were providing surrogacy services for American families, only to later discover that the intended family was fake, and the child the woman carried and gave birth to was later sold overseas.

In July, Live Action News reported on an illegal ring operating in California, which was ultimately called a "national security threat." An investigation revealed that Future Springs Surrogacy was allegedly operating as a for-profit baby selling business and arranging for women to be surrogates without any intended parents. The children born were ultimately sold in China.

The Bottom Line:

Unfortunately, surrogacy is already an "avenue to allow abuse, neglect, or deceit of innocent women and babies." Surrogacy creates trauma by intentionally creating a child for the purpose of separating him or her from the one familiar heartbeat and voice he or she has known from the womb.

Even well-intentioned legislation cannot fully protect children and women from commodification and trafficking during the surrogacy process. All surrogacy arrangements — in which a child is created to fulfill an adult's desires and then a woman's womb is rented and a child is exchanged — inherently commodify both the woman and the child.

The best legislation would ban surrogacy outright.

Cassy Cooke