When Kayla Elliot signed up to be a surrogate, she never imagined the baby she would carry would be swept up in an alleged international trafficking ring. But with little oversight, the surrogacy industry has become a breeding ground for heartbreaking stories like hers.
Elliot, a Texas woman adopted as a child, wanted to give others the gift of family. That motivation led her to online research and Facebook surrogacy groups—eventually connecting with an agency called Future Spring Surrogacy, formerly known as Marks Surrogacy.
The agency offered her an opportunity to help a couple struggling with infertility. But what she intended as a noble mission quickly unraveled into a disturbing and complicated scandal involving more than 10 other surrogate mothers.
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“When I was 17 weeks, that’s when things started to get a little weird,” Kayla told The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. She came across concerning posts in a surrogacy Facebook group, including one alleging that Future Spring was using the same intended parents’ profile for multiple surrogates. Curious and alarmed, she reached out in the comments—and quickly connected with two other women who were also pregnant for the same couple.
Amid the chaos of connecting with the other women, Kayla carried her baby to term and ultimately handed over her precious little girl. But the exchange was far from the heartfelt moment she had envisioned. Kayla described the interaction as cold and transactional. She recalled the intended mother entering the room just before Kayla’s discharge—not to cradle the newborn, but to wheel her around in a bassinet. Shockingly, the woman hadn’t even brought a car seat to take the baby home.
A few months later, Kayla believed she was finally beginning to find peace—coming to terms with handing over her baby and praying she was in safe hands. But then, another unexpected message came through Facebook. This time, she was added to a much larger group chat with at least 10 other women—some who had recently given birth, others still pregnant—all carrying babies for the same couple.
In an exclusive report, The Daily Wire revealed that federal sources in California confirmed an active investigation into an alleged “rent-a-womb” scheme. The confirmation came last Wednesday evening, following inquiries from The Daily Wire into claims that the California Department of Child and Family Services had removed more than 20 babies from the home of a Chinese couple operating the Marks Surrogacy agency.
To her horror, Kayla later discovered that California child services had allegedly found 21 babies in the home of the so-called “intended parents”—including the baby she had carried. Her daughter was now in state custody. Since then, Elliot says she has been contacted by the FBI and extensively questioned about the agency, how her baby was handled, its possible ties to China, and other troubling details.
“For years, we’ve warned that the commercial surrogacy industry operates in legal and ethical gray zones, creating conditions ripe for abuse,” Kallie Fell, the Executive Director of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, told the Daily Wire. “This case isn’t just about one agency or one couple; it reflects a deeper pattern of treating women as wombs-for-hire and children as commodities.”
Fell’s organization has long sounded the alarm on the global fertility and surrogacy industry, warning that weak oversight and lack of regulation leave vulnerable women open to exploitation.
“We believe this case points to a form of organized reproductive trafficking, and the public should be outraged,” Fell highlighted. “And it won’t stop unless we hold the fertility industry accountable and close our borders to international surrogacy arrangements.”
Surrogacy can easily become a breeding ground for mistreatment and trafficking. While many women willingly enter into these arrangements with the intention of helping others, financial need is often a major driving factor. Surrogates are rarely wealthy—in fact, the opposite is usually true.
According to Future Spring’s website, women are promised a minimum “compensation” of $45,000, not including additional costs like hospital fees, tests, or medical procedures. This substantial payout can be a powerful incentive, sometimes even compelling women to remain in situations where they are mistreated or exploited.
Join us in praying for justice for these mothers—and that every child involved will be placed in a safe, loving home.
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