Ron DeSantis signs legislation outlawing Chinese, Russian surrogacy contracts

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation banning surrogacy contracts involving citizens of several U.S. adversaries.

The new law bars preplanned adoption agreements and gestational surrogacy contracts with citizens of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Syria, LifeSiteNews reported.

The law takes effect July 1.

DeSantis said Florida wants to stop foreign nationals from using American surrogacy arrangements to obtain children and U.S. citizenship.

“China ships people here for birth,” he said. “It’s really a seedy thing.”

DeSantis also connected the issue to the national fight over birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment.

“I know we’re hoping that the Supreme Court is going to interpret the 14th Amendment so that we can put a stop to some of the people coming here for a month, having birth, and then going back to China,” he said. “That’s part of an operation. Why would we let that happen and grant citizenship under those circumstances?”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also backed the law. He said the surrogacy industry allows dangerous people and foreign nationals to use American companies to obtain children.

“Today, registered sex offenders and foreigners – including Chinese nationals – buy thousands of babies from U.S. surrogacy companies,” Uthmeier said.

Uthmeier said the practice raises many concerns.

“This modern-day slavery is morally wrong, endangers children, and threatens national security,” he concluded. “It must be stopped.”

Republican U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rick Scott of Florida raised similar concerns earlier this year. The senators asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Chinese-owned surrogacy labs operating in the United States.

“Alarming reports indicate that Chinese nationals are systematically exploiting America’s surrogacy and birthright citizenship laws,” the senators wrote Feb. 26.

A December 2025 Wall Street Journal report detailed the case of Xu Bo, a Chinese billionaire and video game executive. The report said Xu has 100 children in the United States through surrogacy.

The Journal also reported another wealthy Chinese executive, Wang Huiwu, had 10 girls through surrogacy. People close to Wang’s education company said he wanted to eventually marry the girls off to powerful men, according to the report.

The Florida law does not ban all surrogacy. Some children’s rights advocates still praised it as a step toward protecting children from a market that treats them like products.

Emma Waters, a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, called the law a “HUGE step forward in protecting citizenship, national security, and the best interests of women and children.”

Them Before Us, a global children’s rights organization, also supported the law.

“This is a step in the right direction!” the group said. “Children have a right not to be bought, sold, and separated from their birth mother at birth.”