Maxwell: Surrogacy is latest target of Florida AG's anti-abortion crusade
Florida used to be known as the place where people come to retire.
Now it's the place where common sense goes to die - and where extremism is the norm.
In the latest example, Florida's scandal-soaked attorney general, James Uthmeier, decided to intervene in a surrogacy case in South Florida where everyone involved was happy - the new parents and the surrogate mother.
Uthmeier’s argument: Surrogacy is akin to "human trafficking." And “slavery.”
If that sounds extreme, it might help to consider some of the motives - in this case, a politician trying to set a legal precedent that would help him later make a case against abortion. If he could advance the “personhood” argument (that embryos or fetuses are people) in a surrogacy case, it would help him attack abortion rights as well.
It's legal gamesmanship. Except the people affected aren't pawns. They’re everyday Floridians, many of whom turned to surrogacy after heartbreak.
They’re women like Marla Neufeld, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who suffered through five painful years of infertility and miscarriages before finally seeking a surrogate.
"Nobody wants to be in this position," Neufeld said. "Nobody is doing this just for the fun of it."
The surrogacy process was costly and complicated, but Neufeld and her husband have twin boys who are now 12. "I'm so blessed this process worked," she said. "A loving family should be able to begin their family without interference from the attorney general.”
The affected women are also people like Ehren McMichael, a kindergarten teacher and Longwood mother of three who decided to become a surrogate after watching her mother slowly die of ALS. In those painful, final moments, McMichael had an epiphany: "What better way to grieve and honor my mother than to bring someone else into the world?"
So, through a service, she was able to help a couple she didn't even know, one that had endured five miscarriages and two, failed, costly in vitro fertilization attempts.
See, while Uthmeier was comparing surrogacy to human trafficking and tweeting that “registered sex offenders and foreigners - including Chinese nationals - buy thousands of babies," I decided to talk to some of the Florida families actually involved in the costly, complex process.
Their stories were both gut-wrenching and inspiring. And for all those who were comfortable sharing their stories publicly, there were also some who weren't, including one woman who needed a surrogate because she was born without a uterus or vagina.
Those are the people Uthmeier is targeting.
Uthmeier's insertion into the South Florida case was sketchy from the get-go. The Tampa Bay Times, which exposed the legal maneuvering last week, reported that the case involves two men in France who found a Florida woman to be their surrogate. The judge who was being asked to sign off on transferring parental rights to the couple knew he had no legitimate reason not to do so. Everyone involved had followed the law.
But Judge Marlon Weiss apparently didn't like the law. So the Times reported that Weiss, "going beyond what is typically required in such a case, suggested in his order that surrogacy may be unconstitutional. His ruling holds that if unborn children are entitled to personhood … those children cannot be subject to an ownership contract."
That's where it becomes pretty clear that this ruling wasn’t really about this family at all. This was a judge trying to set legal precedent for the anti-abortion movement - and trying to score himself a judicial promotion in the process. The Times reported that Weiss later submitted his unorthodox ruling as part of an application to DeSantis for an appellate position.
Florida AG says surrogacy is human trafficking, with big implications for families
Uthmeier then started trying to intervene, comparing surrogacy to slavery with a spokeswoman issuing a statement that said: “The Attorney General is concerned about any case where a surrogacy company profits off the sale of children; it constitutes modern-day slavery, interferes with a mom’s parental rights, and the rights of the child."
Uthmeier seems to be pouncing on the fact that some surrogates get paid. Well, the reason many get paid isn’t complicated. It can be tough to find a relative or friend who's ready to spend nine months pregnant for a child they’ll never raise.
And also because the process can be draining - emotionally, physically and financially.
Neufeld, who went on to specialize in fertility and surrogate law after experiencing the process firsthand, stressed that surrogates take on "tremendous physical, emotional, and logistical commitment in the process of helping build a family." That’s why, she said: "Florida law appropriately recognizes this by permitting payment of the surrogate's reasonable living, legal, medical, psychological, and psychiatric expenses directly related" to the pregnancy.
It isn't about enriching a surrogate, Neufeld said, but "ensuring that the surrogate is not financially disadvantaged for what she is putting her body and life through."
Still, Uthmeier had an ideological war to wage. And he’d already proven willing to push legal boundaries to do so.
That is, after all, what landed him neck deep in the Hope Florida scandal. In that well-documented mess, Uthmeier was part of a scheme that diverted millions of dollars meant to help low-income Floridians access healthcare to a political campaign against abortion and marijuana.
One GOP lawmaker accused Uthmeier of being "engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud." Uthmeier disagrees. A grand jury has been reportedly probing the matter.
Maxwell: Scandals for Dummies. Breaking down the Hope Florida fiasco
A lawyer for the two fathers told the Times that Uthmeier - who was appointed to the post and now needs to win an election if he wants to keep it - is trying to use surrogacy cases as "political fodder for his campaign."
If so, he may have gravely miscalculated.
Some legal experts say Uthmeier‘s legal push could imperil IVF and possibly even adoption if the state's new argument is that any custodial transfer that also involves money is an act of human trafficking. And we've seen that kind of legal argument backfire big-time.
Just two years ago, after an Alabama court issued a ruling that threatened the in vitro process, there was outrage across the political spectrum. So much so that Donald Trump told Alabama lawmakers to rush to protect IVF rights.
Some faith leaders, particularly in Islam and Catholicism, denounce surrogacy. But the majority of Americans, religious and otherwise, support families having the option and believe struggling parents deserve support, not scorn or legal hurdles. And certainly not accusations that they're involved in slavery or human trafficking.
As a mother who needed a surrogate, Neufeld called Uthmeier's actions "really offensive."
And McMichael, a woman who decided to use her own womb to help fulfill parental dreams for another distraught couple, said: "This is something that shouldn't be political."
McMichael described her experience of helping as both joyful and inspiring. "I loved being a surrogate," she said. "I loved how my own children accepted the concept. And I loved teaching them that you can do more than just a food drive to help people."
Maybe not, though, if this state's attorney general gets his way.
A note of change
Last Sunday’s column spotlighted Chance2Dance, a nonprofit that specializes in dance for those with disabilities. That piece noted that Chance2Dance is holding a 10th anniversary showcase this weekend. Well, since that column was published, technical challenges at the original venue prompted a change. The showcase is now scheduled at Edgewater High School at 3100 Edgewater Drive in Orlando at 4 PM on Sunday, May 17. For more information on tickets, the event or the studio, visit chance2danceinc.org
Maxwell: ‘Everybody deserves a chance to dance.’ This small studio in Maitland provides it
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 1:39 PM.