She rented her uterus, so it’s not her choice…
The comments on this surrogate story are genuinely some of the most anti-woman things I’ve read in a while.
A surrogate named McKenna West was carrying a baby for intended parents in California. Around 20 weeks, the baby was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect. The intended parents wanted her to terminate the pregnancy. She refused. An Alaska court ultimately affirmed that she could make her own medical decisions while pregnant. She later traveled to Texas and gave birth there.
TikTok comments about this case are horrifying and show just how misogynistic people are.
People are literally saying:
“It’s no longer her body, her choice when she signed the contract.”
“She rented her uterus.”
“The parents paid her for her body and the choice.”
“She signed her body away.”
A woman cannot sign away ownership of her own body. A contract does not magically transfer bodily autonomy from the pregnant woman to the people paying her. You cannot purchase the legal or moral right to force another person to undergo surgery or terminate a pregnancy because you paid them.
Commercial surrogacy is just exploitative. We know this obviously, but I just had to rant out of frustration.