Prominent lawyer sentenced in baby-selling scheme
(Reuters) - A prominent California adoption lawyer was sentenced to federal prison on Friday for her role in running a baby-selling ring that placed unborn children of surrogate mothers with unrelated parents for up to $100,000 each.
Theresa Erickson pleaded guilty in August to a wire fraud conspiracy charge stemming from what authorities said was essentially an adoption mill that skirted state laws requiring surrogate mothers in California to sign contracts with their prospective clients before becoming pregnant.
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Authorities said Erickson and two co-defendants collected fees from couples who thought they were paying in advance for parental custody of babies born to surrogate mothers and available for adoption because a surrogate's original clients had backed out of their contract.
In fact, the surrogate mothers had become pregnant through embryo implantations performed on them in the Ukraine as part of a scheme to create "an inventory of unborn babies" for unsuspecting U.S. couples desperate for an infant of their own, according to federal prosecutors.
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The surrogate mothers themselves were also unwitting participants, with some of them ultimately blowing the whistle on the scheme.
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"The surrogacy laws were enacted to protect both unborn babies and parents seeking children," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a written statement. "Out of sheer greed, Erickson preyed upon people's most basic need: to raise a child."
There are people in this world who think nothing of this.
Surrogate motherhood? Cool.
Human trafficking in unborn children? No problem.
Treating child-rearing as a need? Of course!
I doubt feminists will speak out against this practice because it touches upon the humanity of the unborn child.
There will come a time when abortion will be criminalized.
Pro-lifers will have to oppose the human trafficking of unborn children.
