Mom and grandmother to the same baby: Spanish actress sparks surrogacy discussion | Information
Information
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A Spanish Tv set actress has sparked controversy immediately after using a surrogate to fulfill what she states was the closing want of her useless son: to have a baby.
Ana Obregón declared the start in a go over story for Hola! journal revealed earlier in April, detailing how she utilized sperm samples from son Aless, who died of most cancers in 2020 at the age of 27, to impregnate a surrogate mom.
Obregón – a 68-year-previous socialite who is married to Italian aristocrat Alessandro Lequio – has long been a fixture on Spanish tv, and is greatest identified for showing up in sequence these kinds of as “A las when en casa.”
This sort of was the desire in the child in Spain that a further magazine, Letras, tracked down the surrogate – a woman of Cuban origin that lives in Florida – and splashed pics of her on its front webpage.
The tale has sparked both equally authorized and moral discussion in Spain, wherever surrogacy is unlawful and sperm samples can only be used to impregnate a widowed associate within 12 months of the donor’s loss of life with their explicit authorization.
Obregón instructed Hola! that the little one, Ana Sandra Lequio Obregón, was born on March 20 in Miami and will have a US passport. She will be registered at the Spanish consulate in Miami before traveling house to Spain, added Obregón.
Some have questioned no matter whether Obregón should really be equipped to provide a baby born by means of a technique illegal under Spanish legislation into the state.
But the actress says she has documents proving that she is lawfully recognized as the baby’s mother in the United States, and adopting a boy or girl born abroad is legal in Spain.
When some authorities say the legalities of the scenario are unclear, several lawful commentators have stated she is not likely to facial area any lawful challenges on returning home.
However the circumstance has also lifted ethical issues over surrogacy. Spanish regulation considers the exercise “a kind of violence versus women of all ages.”
Other individuals have questioned Obregon’s declare that she was fulfilling her son’s dying want.
“It appears questionable to me that the needs of the deceased would have been for his sperm to be utilized to impregnate an egg in the human body of a woman in a further state,” mentioned philosophy professor Gonzalo Velasco in an interview with radio station Cadena Ser.
“It looks quite convoluted,” he added, likening the developments to a tale by horror creator Stephen King or melodramatic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
Verónica Fumanal, president of Spain’s Affiliation of Political Conversation (ACOP) claimed the announcement designed her feel of the dystopian Tv set collection “Black Mirror.”
“She bought herself a grandaughter with sperm from her useless son,” stated Fumanal in an interview with Cadena Ser, who questioned the way in which Obregón experienced publicized the baby’s start.
“She set a camera in her facial area and sold the distinctive,” stated Fumanal.
Obregón has sought to dampen the controversy, calling the discussion in Spain “absurd” mainly because surrogacy is lawful in many countries all-around the entire world.
Spain is one of several nations exactly where surrogacy is illegal, and in others, these types of as the United Kingdom, surrogacy is lawful but restricted.
These limits, in addition to higher expenditures and a shortage of surrogates, motivate British isles partners to seem for a surrogate overseas, like in the US, the place the procedure is extra straightforward.
Obregón told Hola! that surrogacy is “very normalized” in the US and that there is no debate like there is in Spain.
She also exposed how little one Ana matches into her relatives.
“This female is not my daughter, but my grandaughter,” she instructed Hola! “She is Aless’ daughter and when she grows up I will notify her that her father was a hero.”
Obregón also mentioned that Aless usually needed a massive spouse and children, and did not rule out repeating the procedure so that Ana could have a brother or sister.
But upcoming on the agenda is the launch of a e book which tells the tale of the surrogacy, scheduled for publication on April 19.
News has contacted reps of both equally Ana Obregón and her husband Alessandro Lequio for comment.