Ana Obregon’s Story and Gestational Surrogacy: The Breakdown

Spain has been in the hot spot in the last few days once Ana Obregon, a Spanish socialite, announced that she became a mother via surrogate at 68 years old. That alone is very controversial, but the thing got even more yucky when she announced that the baby was fecunded with his late son’s sperm making her really the grandma, although legally she is the mom. If you think that is crazy… you are right!  It is insane.

Why is Ana Obregón’s case so controversial?

This news has sparked again the controversy surrounding surrogacy. In Spain, like in the majority of European countries it is completely illegal. Europeans, who are not as capitalists as the Americans, considered that is completely unethical to reduce a woman’s body as a human incubator for the benefit of the rich; they use the term ‘reproductive exploitation’ to describe this phenomenon. However, there is a loophole in the law: Even though you can’t do gestational surrogacy in Spain, no one prevents you from going to a country where it is legal and later register that birth in Spain —and that’s what Ana Obregon did.

That got me thinking a lot about surrogacy. Here in the U.S. we have normalized it because it is legal, but there is a big difference between being ‘legal’ and doing the ‘right’ thing. Commercializing with women’s bodies to produce babies and snatch them from the mom’s arms as soon as they are born, it is certainly far from right or ethical.

However you look at it, it’s not. You would never be allowed to rent your kidneys to anyone, why would renting your uterus be? The answer is simple, that’s because we live in a patriarchy where the whole birthing process is always minimized and instead of seeing it as something sacred and miraculous, it is seen as something almost mechanical. This example has proven that also knows no limits.

In what right mind someone says it is okay for a 68-year-old grieving woman, who clearly after the loss of her 27-year-old son is not in her best judgement, should be allowed to use her son’s sperm, and via a third woman’s womb, bring a little girl to this world who will most likely become an orphan by the age 15? It is so selfish, and I’m not blaming Ana Obregon. As I just said, that woman is not in her right mind. I’m blaming the fertility clinics who allow this to happen.

Next week we’ll get to talk to a women’s right activist from Spain, Ana Trejo Pulido, regarding the dangers that gestational surrogacy poses. Stay tuned!