A surrogacy agency in California has been called ‘a national security threat’ as a federal investigation begins into cases of neglected babies who are ultimately being transported to China.
Key Takeaways:
- An investigation is underway into Future Springs Surrogacy for an alleged for-profit baby selling business that seeks out women to be surrogates without any intended parents.
- The California Department of Child and Family Services discovered 21 babies in the home of the “intended parents” who are the employees of the business.
- Many of the babies are allegedly being taken to China.
- One surrogate, Kayla Elliot, said she has spoken with several other surrogates who all have a picture of the same “intended” mother.
- Elliot is working to hire an attorney to help her gain custody of the baby she gave birth to.
The Details:
In an article for The Daily Wire, reporter Mary Margaret Olohan explained that federal authorities are investigating Future Spring Surrogacy (formerly Marks Surrogacy) following allegations of a for-profit baby selling surrogacy scheme involving a Chinese couple. Federal sources confirmed to The Daily Wire that on Wednesday, 21 babies were removed from the home of the Chinese couple running the agency.
One of the surrogates involved with the agency, Kayla Elliot, spoke with The Daily Wire, saying she entered into a contract with the agency, carried and birthed a baby for it, and then gave that baby to its “intended parents” — or so she thought. Multiple other women did the same, she said, but later learned there were no “intended parents” other than Mandarin-speaking employees of the agency.
In an interview with Kallie Fell, executive director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, Elliot explained that she posted on Facebook in January 2024 that she was interested in becoming a surrogate. She received a message saying, “I saw your post that you’re interested in becoming a surrogate. I currently am working with a Chinese couple located in Los Angeles CA. They are seeking to find a surrogate to have a baby for them. Would you be open to talk more about it?”
READ: Surrogacy’s pitfalls: Heartbreaking stories of child abandonment
She agreed to do so and signed with the agency in February 2024. She became pregnant in July 2024.
Elliot explained that the FBI contacted her to ask her about the agency, its handling of the baby, and its ties to China. She told The Daily Wire that when she was about 17 weeks pregnant, she began talking with other surrogates, many of whom said they had also carried babies for the same Chinese couple, all within the same time frame. The women were from different states and began sending each other pictures of the same “intended mother.”
Elliot told Fell, “There was actual diehard, like, picture proof of all these women holding their babies with the same mom standing right next to them. Some of them were within weeks of each other. I had the baby March 13, there was a girl who delivered the last week of February, another girl who delivered a couple weeks after I did.”
After Elliot shared her story on social media platforms, other women came forward with their own stories of working with this agency. “Yes, all the stories are real,” she said. “We don’t have guaranteed facts about what has been going on with this agency for years prior but we do know what they’re being investigated for now, so stay away and stay aware!”
Elliot is now raising money to hire an attorney to help her get custody of the baby she gave birth to.
The federal source who spoke with The Daily Wire called the situation “very bizarre.” He explained, “Babies are being neglected, then transported back to China.” The children are born in the U.S. and therefore have U.S. citizenship, creating “a national security threat,” he said.
Fell told The Daily Wire there is a pattern of “commodification, deception, and international legal loopholes” in the surrogacy industry. “For years, we’ve warned that the commercial surrogacy industry operates in legal and ethical gray zones, creating conditions ripe for abuse. This case isn’t just about one agency or one couple; it reflects a deeper pattern of treating women as wombs-for-hire and children as commodities.”
She added, “We believe this case points to a form of organized reproductive trafficking, and the public should be outrage. And it won’t stop unless we hold the fertility industry accountable and close our borders to international surrogacy arrangements.”
Why it Matters:
The fertility industry, including surrogacy businesses, are fraught with unethical practices amid little oversight. Lives are lost to IVF at a higher rate than to abortion and there are currently a million or more people frozen in their embryonic state in the U.S.
Surrogacy exploits underprivileged and vulnerable women to rent their wombs for the use of wealthy individuals and couples. As with the entire fertility industry, surrogacy turns children into consumer products, often taking them from the arms of the only mother they have ever known.
Research shows that taking babies from their birth mother — whether she is biologically related to them or not — causes immense trauma and can permanently alter a child’s adult brain function later in life. This is the case even with adoption, which exists to heal the wound that is created when biological parents are unable to care for her. Surrogacy, on the other hand, deliberately creates a child with the intention of separating her from her birth mother immediately after delivery. This was the plan since before the child’s conception: to remove her from the only mother she’s ever known. Surrogacy creates trauma.
The Bottom Line:
This is not the first scandal to erupt in the surrogacy industry. Illegal surrogacy rings have been exposed in China and Thailand and surrogacy scams and unethical practices have been discovered in California and the UK. As a result, some nations have banned surrogacy and others have called for stricter regulations.
