Ana Obregón, the terrifying reality of surrogate mothers and a law that comes to protect them

In the photographs that flooded the covers of magazines, Ana Obregon She held her granddaughter in her arms, a beautiful creature wrapped in a delicate white blanket that seemed to radiate serenity. The images seem taken from a Renaissance painting: mother and daughter, grandmother and granddaughter, united by a bond of life that transcends generations. However, behind those perfect postcards (sold to the highest bidder) starring a minor, a creature who has no guilt or knowledge of what is happening, a disturbing reality is hidden, woven with contracts, clauses and the silences of women whose existence is relegated to the footer of a legal agreement.

Now, the Ministry of Equality, through the Women’s Institute, is finishing a report to study what legal actions can be taken against surrogacy intermediary agencies like the one that allowed Ana Obregon being a mother or grandmother to your daughter-granddaughter. The Law on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy prohibits the commercial promotion of surrogacy. The Government has already prepared an analysis of the advertising of this practice, based on the complaints received by the Women’s Image Observatory since 2018. In the surrogacy business in Spain, some agencies that border on legality and promote their services announcing, for example, that if the baby dies before turning 2 years old, they restart the process for free.

For years, the Ministry of Equality has been working to unmask what they call the “surrogacy business”a practice prohibited in Spain, but which continues to exist in the shadows thanks to the intervention of agencies that operate outside the law. These companies, which walk the fine line between what is permitted and what is illegal, offer everything necessary so that people who cannot or do not wish to conceive can fulfill their dream of becoming parents. For many, it is a modern miracle; for others, a dark market where the female body becomes a commodity.

Between 2010 and mid-2023, more than 3,100 children born through surrogacy were registered in Spanish consulates around the world. Parents who resort to this practice usually travel to countries such as the United States, Ukraine or Canada, where surrogacy is legal. However, The process begins at home, with the help of agencies that operate in Spain and offer complete intermediation services.

These agencies, some registered as foreign companies and others of Spanish origin, They invoice millions of euros a year. According to the latest available records, three of them achieved income of more than three million euros in a single year. Although the law prohibits the commercial promotion of surrogacy, agencies remain active, advertising their services on the Internet and guaranteeing the satisfaction of their clients with disturbing promises, such as the possibility of restarting the process at no additional cost if the baby dies. before turning two years old.

The process to select a surrogate mother is as cold as choosing a product in an online store. Clients receive detailed profiles: photographs of women smiling shyly, alongside descriptions listing their marital status, occupation, hobbies and medical history. Everything is evaluated, from your pregnancy history to whether the births were vaginal or by cesarean section.

Similarly, choosing an egg donor is done through a catalog that includes photographs and genetic data. The clinics offer access to egg banks where the client can “personalize” the future baby, selecting physical characteristics and health history of the donor..

However, the most chilling thing is found in the clauses of the contracts. If the surrogate mother loses an ovary during the process, she receives compensation of $2,000. If she loses her uterus and is unable to have more children, the payment increases to 5,000. In case of deaththe surrogate’s family receives compensation of just 20,000 eurosa sum that, compared to the 200,000 euros that a complete surrogacy process can cost in the United States, seems like a cruel reminder of the inequality inherent in the system.

The contract also establishes how the surrogate mother is paid. The money is not given all at once, but in monthly installments that are interrupted if an abortion occurs. For example, if the pregnancy is lost in the third month, The surrogate will only have received the payment corresponding to the first two months, leaving the client the option of restarting the process with a new woman.

In the most extreme cases, some agencies guarantee that if the baby dies before turning two, the parents will receive another one at no additional cost. This clause, which seems taken from a dystopian novel, illustrates how the system reduces human life to a simple product with a guarantee.

While well-known figures such as Ana Obregón, Kiko Hernández or one of the former producers of Sálvame enjoy their sons or daughters, in addition to many anonymous, but all with money to pay to be fathers or mothers, The stories of the women who make this practice possible rarely come to light. Many are young women, often in situations of economic vulnerability, who agree to lend their bodies to gestate in exchange for a sum that barely covers their most urgent needs. In countries like Ukraine, these women sign contracts without really knowing what they are dealing with, trusting in promises that are rarely kept.

Surrogacy raises difficult questions: how far can the desire to be a father or mother go? Is it fair to build happiness on the renunciation and suffering of other people? Ana Obregón may find answers in the eyes of her daughter-granddaughter, but the shadows of this business will continue to lurk as long as society closes its eyes to a reality as complex as it is disturbing.