The hot new commodity in reproductive options seems to be Texas surrogates. Texas hospitals nowadays report seeing far more than Texas surrogates than birthmoms choosing adoption.
Through South Texas, tacky billboards picturing pregnant women shamelessly tout “be a surrogate!” followed by big monetary figures. The billboards typically run in poorer neighborhoods, targeting healthy mothers of a certain age bracket who are parenting and whose medical histories are clear of health or addiction concerns, of course.
In Texas surrogates are less likely to wear red handmaiden robes and more likely to carry debit cards from pricey surrogacy companies or wealthy intended parents.
Texas Surrogates: a Growing Job Opportunity
In April of this year, the earnable rate started at $69k+ (plus expenses). By July 2025, the going rate on the same company’s billboards had jumped to $73k+. In Corpus, however, it’s reported that surrogate fees can run as high as $110k. Paid surrogacy “services” were legalized by Governor Rick Perry in Texas in 2003, and it’s become big business, as growing numbers of “intended parents” from all over the globe now pour money into American surrogacy firms.
Some surrogate mothers in Texas claim to be drawn into surrogacy because they love being pregnant or because they “want to help others become parents.” However, very few turn down the lucrative compensation package. This often makes the “carrier” the biggest breadwinner in her household, leading some to do it over and over again, despite the considerable medical risks for Texas surrogates. .
Texas surrogates are in high demand. Unlike Texas adoption laws, which enable prospective birthmothers to benefit from months of financial support during pregnancy and then renege on adoption plans, gestational surrogates in a commercial surrogacy plan have no biological relationship with the child they are carrying. They “sign off” at least two weeks prior to the embryo transfer, and thus have no legal rights to the baby once born. (It’s basically a “rent-a-womb” transaction that pays way better than a Whataburger cashier job would.) Texas also allows “prebirth parentage orders” that establish the rights of the “intended parents” prior to birth, based on a sort of contractual agreements that are specifically prohibited before birth in Texas adoptions.
When Does Surrogacy Run Afoul of its Purpose?
A 2022 piece in the SMU Law Review entitled “Boss Mom” laid out concerns about ways in which Texas law endangers Texas surrogates. As of yet, there’s been no organized public outcry against Texas surrogates being exploited. That may be about to change, however, given the growing number of stories outlining the corruption of Texas surrogates.
Last fall, a scandal erupted that involved a Houston-based surrogacy escrow company who were accused of embezzling more than $10 million dollars entrusted to it by hundreds of intended parents worldwide. Now, reports are breaking of 21 minor children being removed from a California home owned by two proprietors of at least 2 surrogacy agencies known to have hired multiple surrogates who delivered babies for them in Texas.
Kayla Elliott is an adoptee, an unmarried mother of four and one of the Texas mothers who carried one of the California babies. In an interview with the Center for Bioethics & Culture, she explains why she is now trying to obtain permanent custody of the baby born to her in 2024 who is now in state care. (Elliott is already carrying another pregnancy for another paying couple.) There is currently little info, publicly, about Guojun Xuan (age 65) and Silvia Xhang (age 38), the legal parents of the 21 children removed from their home, several of whom were reportedly abused by the couple’s six nannies. Their surrogacy agency Mark Surrogacy has been closed, but Future Spring Surrogacy is still in business. The couple denies any wrongdoing, but the FBI is investigating further, as the case has spurred child trafficking concerns, in addition to another surrogacy investigation the FBI is handling in Maryland and Florida.
Surrogacy vs. Adoption
Clearly, there are ethical concerns about any process that impacts the lives and wellbeing of babies and children– as there should be. Surrogacy and adoption have both become too often consumer-driven processes, fueled by the desires of adults rather than the best interests of infants. (Birthright citizenship is a whole ‘nother concern impacting both.) In Texas, intended parents in surrogacy arrangements must complete home studies, as do the hopeful adoptive parents seeking to adopt. There are no legally-enforceable post-birth contact agreements in Texas adoptions or surrogate arrangements.
However, one huge difference is that Texas law prohibits birthparents from being paid for placing a baby for adoption (other than having basic living expenses covered by a licensed adoption agency), whereas Texas surrogates can legally be paid tens of thousands of dollars directly for their “services” (in addition to expenses.) Birthmothers who place through licensed adoption agencies in Texas are required to be offered counseling services during and after placement, but surrogates are not.
More concerning, there are no laws in Texas that limit how many babies any adoptive or intended parents can acquire at one time. This should be of concern to anyone concerned with child welfare. Children should never be reduced to a mere commodity. Babies should not be produced for commercial gain. And much as we all want to think that parents can be trusted to make responsible reproductive decisions, the bottom line is this: Texas needs to do more to protect the needs of all children born in this state. (Regardless of whether there are Texas surrogates, Texas agencies and/or Texas birthfamilies involved… or not.)
