Bill voids surrogacy contracts with foreign nationals, restricts reproductive autonomy

What it does

This bill voids surrogacy contracts between U.S. surrogate mothers and prospective parents who are citizens or residents of foreign adversarial nations (as defined by federal law). It criminalizes surrogacy brokers who knowingly facilitate such contracts, with penalties up to one year in prison. Children born under voided contracts have custody determined by state law based on the child's best interests, not the surrogacy agreement.

Why we flagged it

The bill frames surrogacy access as a national security and human trafficking concern, using that rationale to restrict contracts with foreign nationals. While framed as security/anti-trafficking, the operative mechanism is a blanket contractual prohibition affecting reproductive choices and family formation.

What the text implies

• Retroactive voiding of existing surrogacy agreements may create custody disputes and leave children in legal limbo if the bill is applied to contracts formed before enactment.
• The presumption in Section 3(3)(B) that any pregnancy agreement with a foreign national is a surrogacy agreement (even if not explicitly stated) may chill legitimate international relationships and medical arrangements.
• Married couples where one spouse is a foreign national (but not from a listed adversary nation) retain rights under the exception, but couples where both spouses are foreign nationals lose all rights—creating a two-tier system based on marital composition.
• Surrogacy brokers face criminal liability for 'recklessly' facilitating voided contracts, a lower mens rea standard than 'knowingly,' which may criminalize good-faith intermediaries who did not know a client's nationality status.
• The bill does not address what happens to foreign nationals who have already paid surrogacy fees or who have children born under now-void contracts—potential for international disputes and family separation.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill protects U.S. surrogate mothers from exploitation and prevents foreign nationals from using surrogacy to circumvent immigration law or traffic children, which benefits public safety and vulnerable women. However, it also restricts the reproductive autonomy of U.S. citizens (surrogates and married couples where one spouse is foreign) to enter into surrogacy arrangements, and creates legal uncertainty for children born under such contracts by voiding the agreements retroactively.

Named in the bill

U.S. surrogate mothers, Foreign nationals (citizens/residents of foreign entities of concern), Surrogacy brokers, U.S. citizens married to foreign nationals, State family courts, 10 U.S.C. § 4872(f)(2) (foreign entities of concern list)

Where it stands

21 cosponsors: 21 Republicans.

• Jan 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 13, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,740,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 18 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Blake Moore, the sponsor, reported $1,475,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $5,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.

• Elevance Health, Inc. — $1,720,000 on 1 filing
• American Society for Reproductive Medicine — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.