The Baby-Purchasing Business Continues To Be A Disaster
the article discusses the growing issues within the unregulated surrogacy industry in the United States, highlighting recent developments and scandals that showcase its moral, ethical, and legal vulnerabilities. It details a recent case involving a surrogate, McKenna West, who battled courts over custody and care of a baby she carried, illustrating the systemic inadequacies in regulating surrogacy arrangements that commodify human life and violate natural rights. Investigations by CBS reveal widespread unethical practices, including paid gestation for foreign clients, notably Chinese billionaires like Xu Bo, who is accused of purchasing over 100 children born in the U.S. to facilitate his vision of population growth for China’s benefit.The Biden administration is working to crackdown on birth tourism and illegal surrogacy schemes, but critics argue that enforcement remains insufficient. The article emphasizes the troubling exploitation enabled by lax U.S. regulations, raising concerns about the long-term consequences for women, children, and national security. it calls for stronger oversight to protect human rights amid the ongoing chaos of America’s surrogacy industry.
The rent-a-womb business is booming, and politicians and the media are finally noticing the wild, wild West of third-party reproduction. That attention alone, however, doesn’t rectify the moral, ethical, and even national security costs that come with a largely unregulated surrogacy industry. If you want proof that the problems with third-party reproduction persist, take one look at the surrogacy news cycle over the last two weeks.
On September 9, an Alaskan surrogate who moved to Texas to protect the baby she was carrying from the abortion his parents demanded due to a treatable heart condition asked the Supreme Court to intervene in her legally complicated custody battle. Questions about whether McKenna West should have any authority on the life and care of the baby she carried for nine months continue to swirl as courts in several states attempt to sort out who gets a say over the child’s treatment.
No judicial body so far has a great answer for the situation because the legal system isn’t equipped to adequately address the fact that every surrogacy arrangement, even those that seemingly end well, involves commodifying human lives and violating natural rights.
Mere days after West filed her emergency application, CBS published an article exposing that “Loopholes and shady practices taint U.S. surrogacy industry.” The report highlighted the stories of several women who were paid to gestate babies for elderly couples and foreigners who had covertly commissioned the creation and carrying of multiple children by multiple surrogates.
The Trump administration is enforcing its promises to protect the “meaning and value of American citizenship” by targeting birth tourism schemes exploited by foreigners — mostly people from China. Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported this week that the State Department “revoked more than 2,300 visas in connection with birth tourism since announcing their birth tourism task force last month.”
NEW: The U.S. State Department tells @FoxNews they’ve revoked more than 2,300 visas in connection with birth tourism since announcing their birth tourism task force last month.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 14, 2026
Yet, the consequences of America’s unmonitored and expansive commercial surrogacy enterprise continue.
One of the women CBS interviewed believed she was providing surrogacy services to “a single father looking to expand his family.” Her suspicions about the rent-a-womb contract mounted when she learned the same man had allegedly hired at least two dozen others to have his children.
“Judy” reportedly pushed to meet the intended parent paying her five times over the course of her pregnancy. It was documents obtained by CBS, however, that ultimately revealed the purchaser was none other than Chinese billionaire Xu Bo.
Bo might be known in China for his fantasy video game empire. In America, however, he’s known as the noncitizen who allegedly purchased more than 100 children (some reports say 300) — all of whom entitled to American citizenship after being born on U.S. soil — by exploiting our nation’s birth tourism weak spots.
The Wall Street Journal noted last year that Bo granted nannies in the U.S. care of his freshly born children because he was too busy in China to be at their births. That factoid is alarmingly reminiscent of the story of Kyla Simpson, who gestated three babies, raised them for months, and even navigated one of their deaths, after the Chinese man who commissioned their creation failed to pick them up at birth.
Bo disputes the exact number of babies he’s commissioned. Yet he’s repeatedly insisted that “having more children can solve all problems.”
In past social media posts, Bo publicly expressed a desire for “50 high-quality sons” and hoped his kids will marry Elon Musk’s offspring. In a recent statement, Bo confessed that his life’s goal, including his mass third-party reproduction strategy, is “to benefit the long-term development of the Chinese nation.”
Chinese billionaire Xu Bo has allegedly purchased 100+ children who are considered U.S. citizens simply because they were born to surrogates on American soil.
Foreigners are exploiting our lax rent-a-womb industry to “benefit the long-term development of the Chinese nation.” pic.twitter.com/t7EgHAp3Gs
— Jordan Boyd (@jordanboydtx) September 14, 2026
CBS’s curiosity about the ethical pitfalls that have dominated American commercial surrogacy and the Trump administration’s attempts to address them is a step in the right direction, but it’s simply not enough. Babies and the women who carry them deserve better.
Jordan Boyd is an award-winning staff writer at The Federalist and producer of “The Federalist Radio Hour.” Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
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