When Giving the Gift of Life Costs You Your Life

by Jennifer Lahl, CBC President on October 26, 2021

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Due to the advocacy and educational work I do around the medical, ethical, and legal risks involved in surrogate pregnancies, I was recently alerted that another U.S. gestational surrogate died. Lydia Cox died July 18, 2021, at the age of 33. She was married and the mother of four children. Per her husband Trey’s TikTok message, Lydia […]

Children Are Not Leftovers to be Frozen

by Jennifer Lahl, CBC President on October 19, 2021

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I recently read an article that called to mind a Daryl Hannah quote from the movie, “Steel Magnolias.” Hannah plays Annelle, a young woman who has prepared a dish for the funeral of Shelby, played by Julia Roberts, saying, “It’s in the ‘Freezes Beautifully’ section of my cookbook, and I want to make something that freezes beautifully.” […]

Exploring the Intersection of Sexual Politics and Women’s Rights

Welcome back to another interesting episode of Venus Rising, now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Podomatic. This week Kallie sits down with a young freelance writer and literary scholar, Donovan Cleckley.  Donovan holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Montevallo and a Master of Arts in English from Tulane University. His research focuses on the relationship between women’s […]

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October News from the CBC!

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Dear friends, “I want people to know how traumatic that [surrogacy] was. Whenever I talk about it puts me back in that place and I feel all of the things I was feeling when I had to go through that.” We hope these words sound familiar and that you have had an opportunity to listen […]

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China’s Family Planning Crisis

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China seems to struggle with family planning. For many years, China limited household size by only allowing parents to have one child- or pay a penalty. This was to slow population growth. Well, the tides have changed and now China needs more kids! Anyone else see this, or the bachelor crisis from sex-selective female abortions, […]

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How Today’s Healthcare System is Failing Women

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Welcome back to Venus Rising. Today’s guest is Jasmine Esmay, a Registered Nurse Certified in Inpatient Obstetrics with over 20 years of frontline healthcare experience. Jasmine is also a Certified Lactation Counselor and an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant.  Jasmine believes that lifelong health and strong family relationships start with pregnancy and birth. Families today face almost insurmountable struggles when it […]

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COVID-19 and Surrogacy

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We are quickly approaching the second anniversary of what was the start of a virus that has wrecked our mental and physical health, invaded our safety and comfort, ruined our economy and personal finances, and forever impacted our lives and our world. At the start of the pandemic Jennifer and I were closely following news […]

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My Surrogacy Nightmare: Toni’s Story

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On today’s episode of Venus Rising, Kallie sits down with the fearless advocate, Toni Bare. In 2016 Toni agreed to be a gestational surrogate for a couple with hopes that she would make enough money to pay for her own fertility treatment. Toni’s experience as a surrogate mother was so horrific  and harmful she has committed to publicly speaking out against […]

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A Whirlwind Summer at the CBC!

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Dear friends, We’re not sure how your summer went, but ours went by in the blink of an eye. Where did the time go? We typically take the summer off from sending you letters, hoping you are away on some exotic vacation or just enjoying a slower pace. And we take a break on sending […]

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The Rarity of Twin Adoption Versus the Reality of Surrogacy

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As former U.S. presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Glezman Buttigieg released a photo of themselves holding their new twins, Penelope Rose, and Joseph August Buttigieg, social media lit up with comments and speculations about how and where their babies came from. There was a lot of righteous indignation like, “Why are they […]

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Surrogacy Wreaked Havoc On My Health

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Hello and welcome back to Venus Rising Season THREE, now available on Spotify, iTunes, and Podomatic. We have so many wonderful guests lined up for this season. Before introducing someone new, we decided to kick-off season three with someone you met last season, Alyssia Wood. Kallie spoke with Alyssia about her experience as a surrogate mother, but only […]

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Are Our Children a Means to an End?

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I recently read a fascinating ethics consult about the topic of savior siblings. A savior sibling refers to the creation of a genetically matched embryo that will be implanted, and after birth used to be the savior of a sick sibling in need of a donor. Typically, the savior sibling provides bone marrow or stem cells from […]

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What’s Up With Wyoming?

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I just recently had the privilege of being on air with Speak Your Piece with Darian Dudrick on Big Horn Radio located in Wyoming addressing newfound concerns of surrogacy in the state. I never thought I would have so much involvement with the “Equality State” as I have in the past couple months, but it’s […]

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Announcing the 2022 Paul Ramsey Award Winner!

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The Center for Bioethics and Culture and the Paul Ramsey Award Committee are delighted to announce that leading biomedical ethicist Professor C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D. will receive the 2022 Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics. Dr. Mitchell has been shaping the field of biomedical ethics and influencing young minds for over 20 years as a Distinguished Fellow […]

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Movie Review: Mimi

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If you follow surrogacy related news, you’ve likely encountered a number of recent headlines about “Mimi,” a 2021 Indian comedy-drama now streaming on Netflix.  The film stars Kriti Sanon, and it chronicles the story of Mimi, a young aspiring actress, who turns to commercial surrogacy as a way to generate the income necessary to pursue […]

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Women Are Not Egg Vendors

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I have been writing and producing documentary films about the many health risks of egg “donation” for years now. I put “donation” in quotes because the reality is that women are offered large sums of money to sell their eggs. There is no donation taking place here, in the truest sense of the word. Unlike […]

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“Trans Mission” Gets Massive Viewership, Backing from Experts, Despite Restrictions Posed by Social Media Platforms

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Despite social media platforms restricting some of the advertising for the powerful film “Trans Mission,” the documentary has been widely viewed online, and garnered support from medical experts, authors, and child counselors. In spite of social media restrictions on advertising for the recently-produced film, “Trans Mission: What’s the Rush to Reassign Gender?” the documentary and […]

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UK conference on “Gender Dysphoria – a Therapeutic Model for Children, Adolescents and Young People”: Part Two

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In the first part of my review as a participant in this conference, the main contributors were identified, and the backdrop of political interference from the extreme gender lobby was described, with its widespread political colonisation having engulfed the medical and psychotherapeutic professions. One explicit purpose of the conference was to encourage therapists to feel […]

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