Southern California baby abuse case: Texas surrogate mother claims to have been deceived and wants to regain custody of her child

A surrogate mother commissioned by a Chinese couple in Arcadia, Southern California, came forward to tell her story, claiming that she was deceived by the couple and hoped to fight for the baby she gave birth to.

The anti-abortion organization Texas Right to Life pointed out that 27-year-old Texas surrogate mother Kayla Elliot was adopted as a child, so she was eager to help other people’s families grow.

In an interview with Los Angeles TV station KTLA, Elliot said: “I like pregnancy, but I can’t expand my family anymore, so I think there is a better way to experience the process of pregnancy and expand other people’s families at the same time.”

Elliot searched for a surrogacy agency through Facebook and cooperated with “Future Spring Surrogacy”. She was matched with a couple in Arcadia, California. Elliot thought she helped the infertile couple, but she was involved in a human trafficking case involving more than a dozen surrogate mothers.

“When I was 17 weeks pregnant, I realized something was fishy,” Elliott told the nonprofit Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.

Elliott saw a worrying post in a surrogacy group on Facebook, saying that “Future Spring Surrogacy” was using the information of the same couple to find multiple surrogate mothers. Out of curiosity and concern, Elliott contacted these surrogate mothers through the message area and found out that they were all surrogates for the same couple.

Elliott used IVF technology to transfer embryos and gave birth to a baby girl for the couple on March 13; but when she recalled the situation in the hospital at that time, it was not as enthusiastic as she expected, but rather quite indifferent, like a transaction.

Elliott said that before she was discharged from the hospital, the expectant mother walked into the room, not holding the newborn, but pushing the baby girl in a stroller, and the other party did not even prepare a car safety seat to take the child home.

Unexpectedly, Elliott was shocked to learn in May that her child had been separated from the original couple and was adopted. She said: “I never thought this would happen. Unless you experience it yourself, it is hard to believe.”

Elliott later discovered that the baby girl she was carrying was not the only child to be adopted. Several other children were sent to protective custody.

The Daily Mail reported that Elliott has launched a fundraising campaign and raised legal fees through the crowdfunding platform “GoFundMe” to fight for custody of her child and take the initiative to accept the FBI’s interrogation.

She said: “We originally trusted the surrogacy agency to comply with relevant regulations and guidelines, but in the end we found that it was all a scam. The couple who wanted a child were the operators of the surrogacy agency.”

The GoFundMe content wrote that Elliott hopes to bring her child back to Texas to “grow up in a stable, loving and affectionate, safe home” instead of staying in a foster family.

Kallie Fell, CEO of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Online, told ABC 7 that while the couple may not have violated the law by using multiple surrogates to bear their children, she is concerned that the case involves human trafficking.

The center is helping Elliott fight for his rights, and Fell said the surrogacy industry is unregulated and “anything can happen.”