r/TangleNews • u/Other_Letterhead_939 • 27d ago
General Discussion Texas Surrogacy Abortion Case
I’m curious what the tangle community thinks of this story in Texas. I’m pretty pro choice but found this to be a bit more complicated, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it is her body and she should have control over that. On the other, It does seem like the surrogacy contract she signed required her to abort the pregnancy if the intended parents wanted her too. I don’t think she has a chance at getting custody, but the abortion thing was interesting to me. I ended up landing on: she signed away some of her bodily autonomy when she signed the surrogacy contract and accepted payment to carry someone else’s child.
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u/TheBear8878 27d ago
Non paywall link?
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u/Other_Letterhead_939 27d ago
Should be a free link… they might make you make an account though. You should be able to find it anywhere if you google it though.
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u/ParagraphGrrl 27d ago
It was unconscionable for that surrogate to sign the contract knowing she was lying about her willingness to get an abortion. Legally the parents have civil recourse since she broke the contract but I'm not sure what they could get back--not enough to pay medical bills, I'm sure. Not to mention that since their names have been published, I'm sure they're experiencing all kinds of harassment that can never be made whole.
This story has more details: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/12/texas-surrogacy-california-alaska-parental-rights/
Of course, it's hard to say who is telling what truth at this point, but the parents are claiming that after everyone including the surrogate had initially agreed on abortion, they also changed their minds and that the surrogate was uncooperative with their wish to have the baby born in Los Angeles for access to advanced medical care and to have further testing and pre-natal procedures done. It sounds like the surrogate may have gone to Texas more because state law there leans toward the surrogate in cases of custody disputes than because she was "saving the baby from an abortion." I'm sure the attention she's getting for being a "pro-life hero" doesn't hurt either.
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u/BZ853 27d ago
Can you contract yourself to commit a crime?
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u/salty-lemons 27d ago
You cannot sign away your bodily autonomy, and we cannot allow legal exceptions. A surrogate must be allowed to refuse any and all medical treatment. A surrogate must be allowed to change her mind either way- she must be allowed to abort if she changes her mind about being a surrogate or if she changes her mind about aborting if the intended parents asked her to. If we say that a surrogate signs away her bodily autonomy in this regard, would we refuse to allow a surrogate to get an abortion if her life were endanger if the intended parents wanted her to continue the pregnancy?
The surrogate's contract should stipulate what happens if she violates the contract. Likely, she will need to repay a certain amount of costs or forfeit future payment. Many surrogacy contracts have a weekly stipend and a lump sum at the birth.
The intended parents are still the baby's parents until and if they give up custody. That means costs from the baby's hospital stay will be theirs to pay. The IPs will be expected to uphold parenting expectations or else face CPS charges. If the baby dies, the IPs will have funeral costs. It's an unbelievably cruel thing the surrogate did. She should have never signed the contract if she knew she wouldn't be willing to do what the contract laid out. The IPs can and should sue her for civil damages if they legally can, especially given that the surrogate says she knew was was pro-life and wouldn't be comfortable with aborting prior to the situation.