Congress targets international surrogacy as national security threat

What it does

This bill makes surrogacy contracts void and unenforceable when a foreign national is the intended parent, even if a U.S. surrogate carries the child. It criminalizes surrogacy brokers who facilitate such arrangements (up to 10 years imprisonment), strips foreign parents of immigration benefits based on U.S.-born children, and requires custody disputes to be decided by state law rather than the surrogacy contract. The stated purpose is to prevent foreign nationals—particularly from adversarial countries—from obtaining U.S. citizenship for children who might later be raised abroad or used to sponsor parental immigration.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is to void international surrogacy contracts and criminalize brokers, framed as a national-security measure against foreign nationals obtaining U.S. citizenship for children. The stated purpose is security-focused (preventing adversarial-country nationals from obtaining U.S. citizens), but the mechanism is a broad surrogacy ban affecting all foreign nationals regardless of threat level.

What the text implies

• Children born to foreign parents under void surrogacy contracts may face legal limbo: they are U.S. citizens by birth but their custody is decided by state law with no effect given to the surrogacy agreement, creating potential disputes and uncertainty about parental rights.
• The bill may inadvertently harm U.S. citizens in binational marriages or same-sex couples where one partner is a foreign national, as the exception only applies to legally married couples where at least one is a U.S. citizen—but the bill's language on 'prospective parents' may be read to void contracts even in those cases.
• Foreign nationals who are biological parents of U.S. citizens born via surrogacy are barred from immigration benefits based on that parentage, potentially creating a class of foreign nationals with U.S.-citizen children who cannot sponsor them for visas or claim family-based immigration rights.
• The presumption in Section 3 that a surrogate has agreed to relinquish parental rights if the contract does not expressly address them may shift burden of proof in custody disputes, affecting surrogates' legal standing.
• Surrogacy brokers face up to 10 years imprisonment for 'knowingly or recklessly' facilitating void contracts, but 'recklessly' is a low mens rea standard that may criminalize conduct that is not intentionally exploitative.

Who it affects

U.S. surrogates gain legal protection from unenforceable contracts and criminal penalties against exploitative brokers, which may reduce coercion. However, the bill creates legal chaos for children born to foreign parents (custody disputes, citizenship questions) and may harm U.S. citizens in binational marriages or same-sex couples where one partner is a foreign national. The national-security framing appears to conflate surrogacy with immigration risk in ways that may not reflect actual harm.

Named in the bill

U.S. surrogates, foreign nationals, surrogacy brokers, Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies, U.S. citizens (children born via surrogacy), state family law systems, Department of Homeland Security (enforcement)

Where it stands

28 cosponsors: 28 Republicans.

• Jun 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jun 3, 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.