Toni, a surrogate mother from Iowa, says of her experience: “It’s been a nightmare. It has almost destroyed my family.”
Because of our films and how outspoken we’ve been about surrogacy—particularly through the #StopSurrogacyNow coalition—we are regularly contacted by women who find themselves in the midst of surrogacies that are in the process of going wrong or who are living with the aftermath of a situation that went wrong.
Some of these women want to share their stories so that those considering being a surrogate mother (or using a woman as a surrogate mother) can have a full picture of the realities of surrogacy.
This was exactly the case with Toni, who first reached out to us about this time last year. This afternoon, she and I jumped on Skype to discuss her experience, why she reached out to us, and what she want others to know about the practice of surrogacy.
We spoke for about 20 minutes, and it’s a window on how terribly wrong surrogacy can go.
Please have a watch and then let me know what you think of the interview and of this interview format.
Author Profile
- Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.
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