Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is introducing legislation that denies registered sex offenders access to children through surrogacy agreements.
Specifically, the No Surrogacy for Sex Offenders Act denies registered offenders from using interstate or foreign commerce to enter into a surrogacy arrangement, which the bill intentionally defines broadly enough, with the intent to obtain parental rights.
Additionally, any registered offenders who enter into an agreement and commit a crime between its initiation and the child's birth are punished with up to 18 years in prison.
While laws are currently in place to prevent offenders from adopting children, there is nothing in place preventing them from gaining access to children through surrogacy arrangements, even if the offender in question committed a crime against minors.
Over the summer, a Pennsylvania man named Brandon Keith Riley-Mitchell, a convicted sex offender for crimes against children, went viral after he and his husband posted a video celebrating their son's first birthday, who was born via a surrogate.
"This is simple: convicted sex offenders should never be allowed to exploit surrogacy to gain access to children. Period," said Rep. Luna in a press release. "If someone is too dangerous to adopt, they are too dangerous to use reproductive loopholes to put a newborn in harm's way. This legislation is about one thing: protecting vulnerable children from predators."
In April 2024, Rep. Luna announced the introduction of a bill on X that would make the federal minimum for perpetrating sexual crimes against minors a capital offense or life in prison, while also raising the minimum sentence for sexual crimes against adults.
"You cannot cure predators," she affirms.
