The recent debate over the Broward County surrogacy case highlights a crucial moment in Florida’s fight to protect preborn children. Many claim that Attorney General James Uthmeier’s intervention in the case is unnecessary and intrusive. Yet, the case is entirely relevant, its ruling important, and intervention desperately needed.
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Here’s the gist. Two men living in France hired a surrogate to have their child in the state of Florida. In a Miami courtroom last year, the men successfully petitioned for parental rights before the boy was even born. Upon learning of the ruling, Attorney General James Uthmeier stepped in and appealed the decision to Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal arguing that such surrogacy contracts treat children as property and are “akin to slavery.”
As a Florida native and communications specialist at Live Action, I believe the AG rightly intervened to protect our most vulnerable citizens. I’m grateful he’s raising this issue of whether Florida children, born or preborn, can be bartered between adults. The answer should always be a resounding no.
The outcome of this case could reverberate far beyond one contract, shaping how the state views the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Weiss captured the stakes clearly in his order: “If a preborn living human being is entitled to legal personhood, it goes without saying that such persons cannot be subject to contractual bartering or ownership.”
That principle should not be controversial. Preborn children are human beings with inherent rights, dignity and worth that no contract should supersede. Science already confirms what common sense and biology have long indicated, that human life begins at conception. A distinct, human being with unique DNA exists from that moment, and human beings deserve protection under the law.
Critics of the AG’s involvement are for one reason only: abortion. The abortion lobby knows that by moving this case forward on appeal, there is a chance Uthmeier could establish fetal personhood which would create a “chilling effect on abortion access.”
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Establishing fetal personhood would affirm the equal dignity of every human being under the law. It would prioritize the protection of children over the preferences of adults. Furthermore, by the state recognizing that human life exists inside the womb, the ability to buy, sell, discard, or kill children diminishes.
And why shouldn’t it?
Over the last decade, our state has made it a priority to combat the horrors of human trafficking and reject any system that treats human beings as commodities to be bought and sold. How is a preborn child any different? People are not property, regardless of their size, location, or stage of development. Florida should reject any framework that treats them as such.
Uthmeier and his team must continue their fight in this pivotal case to protect preborn children. Florida has both the opportunity and a moral obligation to draw a clear line against the commodification of children in our state. Surrogacy contracts that treat preborn lives as transferable goods should be outlawed. No civilized society can claim to value human dignity in one sense, while also permitting the creation and transfer of children as if they were merchandise.
By rejecting this practice, Florida can send a clear message: Every human life has inherent worth and rights that no contract, no amount of money, and no adult desire can ever override. Uthmeier has taken a courageous stand, and should finish the fight.
Kimberly Bird is a native Floridian and a communications specialist for Live Action.
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