How Paris Hilton’s Baby News Renewed the Surrogacy Controversy

Socialite Paris Hilton recently surprised fans when she announced she and her husband, Carter Reum, had welcomed a baby boy. Despite the heiress’ happiness over the birth of her first child, some critics don’t share her joy. The problem? They don’t approve of surrogacy. Here’s why Hilton’s surrogacy news sparked another round of debate.

Why did Paris Hilton and other celebrities use surrogates?

Hilton and Rheum kept their baby news a secret, so fans were shocked to hear the couple’s announcement. Hilton took to Instagram, where she posted a photo of the newborn’s hand sweetly holding her thumb. “You are already loved beyond words,” the entrepreneur wrote.  

“It’s always been my dream to be a mother, and I’m so happy that Carter and I found each other,” she told People. Celebrity friends such as Chrissy Teigen and Lindsay Lohan congratulated the new mom, as did Kim Kardashian, who has used surrogates to have two of her four kids.

There are various reasons why celebrities choose surrogacy. Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg made the decision based on Chung’s feelings about how pregnancy would affect her acting career. Khloé Kardashian said she used a surrogate to avoid a high-risk pregnancy. Similarly, Priyanka Chopra cited medical reasons.

Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, David Burtka, desired to be biological fathers, so they went the surrogacy route. “We inserted one of my sperm and one of David’s sperm into two eggs with the hope that they would both take, just because we both wanted to be dads biologically,” the Doogie Howser, M.D. star explained. “Both took, miraculously.”

The 42-year-old Hilton recently revealed to Glamour UK that she and Rheum used a surrogate not because of her age but because of her past emotional trauma.

The hotel heiress has been open about abuse she says she endured “during her two years in various schools for troubled teens, such as Provo Canyon School in Utah, where she spent 11 months,” Glamour reports.

“I’m just so scared, I think, again, leading back to Provo, of even being in a doctor’s office, just all of that. The shots, the IVs that they put in [she claims they used to regularly take samples of her blood],” she told Glamour. “When I was in The Simple Life, I had to be in a room when a woman was giving birth, and that traumatized me as well. But I want a family so bad — it’s just the physical part of doing it. I’m just so scared … childbirth and death are the two things that scare me more than anything in the world.”

How does surrogacy work, and why is it stigmatized?

Surrogacy isn’t a new concept. The process is an arrangement where the surrogate agrees to carry a pregnancy for the prospective parent or parents.

According to Shape, hopeful parents must take various steps before pursuing surrogacy, such as medical screenings, a matching process, an agreement or contract, hormonal treatments, and egg retrieval, fertilization, and transfer. It’s a complicated process. There’s also a stigma surrounding surrogacy, with some critics seeing it as selfish or unethical.

Some anti-surrogacy advocates call the process unethical because so many children are available for adoption. Many don’t understand the reasoning behind choosing surrogacy, and many myths surround the process. It’s so misunderstood that even famed feminist Gloria Steinem said surrogacy put “disenfranchised women at the financial and emotional mercy of wealthier and more privileged individuals,” The Washington Post reports.

What problems come with surrogacy?

Surrogacy isn’t easy. It’s an emotional decision for the parties involved, and problems can arise. According to reality star Kim Kardashian, “Anyone that says or thinks [using a surrogate] is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way because you are not really in control.”

Another factor to consider is the cost of surrogacy. Kardashian and her ex-husband Kanye West paid their first surrogate $45,000, although that didn’t include agency fees and other charges, which can bring the total to six figures.

Let’s not forget the legal aspects of surrogacy. It’s important to remember that laws vary by state, so everyone needs to be well informed. Because of restrictive laws in Michigan, one couple had to adopt their biological children born via surrogate, People reports. The 1988 Surrogate Parenting Act made compensated surrogacy illegal for carriers and intended parents and said an agreement wouldn’t be recognized in court. 

Fortunately, it all worked out for the parents, who adopted their biological twins after 10 months. Mother Tammy Myers said, “We are finally being recognized as our biological twins’ legal parents, and I’m feeling very hopeful that we will see a change to this crazy, outdated Michigan law.”