When Jessica Kern gave evidence to lawmakers in Washington, DC, last summer opposing the legalization of surrogacy in the district, she was pointedly asked why she wasn’t grateful for the procedure that created her.
“The question was so simple and dismissive,” she recalls. “Like I would choose this for myself? When the only reason you’re in this world is a big fat paycheck, it’s degrading.”
Kern, 30, of Culpepper, Va. — the product of the old-fashioned, traditional method of “biological surrogacy” as opposed to “gestational surrogacy” — is among a number of donor-conceived children in the US who are campaigning for tighter controls on the law governing assisted reproduction.
“You can’t sell your kidney for profit but you can purchase an egg or sell a child,” she says. “There needs to be more checks and balances.
“Most of the consideration within surrogacy is toward the adults and what they want. Often, it’s not in the best interests of the children.”
Kern discovered the true story behind her birth after finding her medical records at the age of 17 which included details of the surrogacy arrangement.
“My biological mother was paid $10,000 for her services,” she says. “I was devastated.”
Kern, who is no longer in touch with her adoptive mother, tracked down her biological mother, but the two are now estranged because of her outspoken stance against surrogacy.