PLEASENT HILL, Calif., June 25 (UPI) –Filmmaker Jennifer Lahl wants the United States to outlaw surrogacy, concerned it targets women and the poor, and fails to take into account the well being of children.Gestational surrogacy is when a woman carries a child that is not hers, conceived via in vitro fertilization and implanted into the host’s womb. It is most commonly used by women who are unable to carry their own child, partners of infertile men, and men in same-sex relationships.

Lahl’s new documentary, Breeders: A Sub-Class of Women,  focuses on what she sees as a growing industry of lower-class women being exploited by wealthy couples.

“It’s obviously expensive technology and people with financial means want what they want,” Lahl said to ABC News.

The self-proclaimed evangelical Christian is also frustrated that the issue revolves solely around an adult’s wish to be a parent.

“It always strikes me that the children are so absent in the discussions. It’s all about adults – who wants, who needs, who buys and what I can get…Surrogacy sets out from the beginning, on purpose, to separate the child from the birth mother.”

“We now have the medical technology to allow people to have a genetically linked child even if the woman cannot carry a pregnancy,” counters Barbara Collura, executive director of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. “If there are women who want to be a gestational carrier and the legal framework exists to ensure the process is legal and ethical, why not let them be a surrogate?”

Collura went on to ask how Lahl expected homosexual men to have biological children if not for surrogate mothers, adding, “Banning gestational carrier surrogacy is a way of saying that certain people shouldn’t have children.”

“I am not sure that is what our country wants to tell people.”

Local Couple Weighs in on Proposal to Outlaw Surrogacy

Posted: Jun 26, 2014 2:49 PM CDT Updated: Jun 26, 2014 3:41 PM CDT

By WRIC Newsroom

 RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) –  In one of our most hotly debated online stories of the week, the local community is reacting strongly to a California woman’s mission to outlaw surrogacy.

In her documentary, “Breeders: A Sub-Class of Women,” Jennifer Lahl argues that surrogacy is a baby-buying operation, allowing wealthy couples to exploit vulnerable women. This notion isn’t sitting well with parents who have used a surrogate mother to have a child.
Jenn Nixon and her husband Brad are trying to start a family. It’s been a seven-year struggle for the Chesterfield couple, but they’re getting closer to their dream.

“After 7 years of waiting, finally we will be parents,”  Jenn said.
The Nixon’s chose to use a surrogate, or gestational carrier, after they learned Jenn’s heart problems would make it dangerous for her to get pregnant.

“This was what we wanted to do and so I just put it out there, told everyone. I blogged about it and was sharing it, that we found our surrogate,” Jenn explained.
Jenn’s blog gives a candid look at the couple’s efforts to become parents and their joy in finding someone to help them. Jenn disagrees with the recent claims that surrogacy is a “baby-buying operation” that exploits women.

“It isn’t fair to generalize and make it seem like every surrogacy situation is that way,” Jenn told 8News. “My experience and the people I know, they’re doing it because that’s the only way they can have a biological child and I think its a wonderful thing.”

It’s also an expensive process.

“We are budgeting it out and I’m estimating it’s going to cost $40,000 for us to do this,” Jenn said. “With my husband being a police officer and me on a small salary, this is going to be loans. But we’re gonna make it happen. We’re gonna make it happen.”
That $40,000 will cover just medical costs; the Nixon’s are not paying their gestational carrier. She’s helping the couple because she believes it’s the right thing to do. Instead of focusing on any negative feedback, Jenn and her husband will instead focus on starting their family.