Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee has reintroduced a bill that would prevent federal courts from enforcing contract provisions that force surrogate mothers to obtain an abortion. The Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2026 would also ensure that surrogate mothers would still receive compensation even if they refused to undergo an abortion.

Reintroduced to the House of Representatives last month after the bill’s 2024 version failed to pass, this bill is crucial amid the numerous headlines of surrogate mothers being pressured into abortions by the intended parents.

In one case currently making headlines, surrogate McKenna West is refusing to abort a baby with a congenital heart defect at the behest of the intended parents, who cited the “abortion on demand” clause in their contract.

“Every life matters. No woman should be forced to end the life of the baby she is carrying — including me… Baby Gabriel should receive a chance at life,” West said.

Surrogacy contracts currently allow the intended parents to dictate pregnancy termination for any reason from medical disabilities shown in the child to change in the parents’ situation to dissatisfaction with the child’s gender. Surrogate mothers who refuse abortion face lost income and lawsuits.

“No woman should ever be forced to murder a child because of a provision buried in a contract,” Ogles said. “My Preventing Forced Abortions Act ensures that federal courts cannot enforce these coercive clauses or allow intended parents to withhold promised compensation when a surrogate mother chooses life.”

Ogles’ co-sponsors for the bill are Republican Representatives Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mary Miller of Illinois, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, and Keith Self of Texas. The bill has received support from pro-life organizations including National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, Concerned Women for America, and Catholic Vote.

“I want to thank Rep. Ogles for standing up for both women and the unborn,” said Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote. “Every abortion treats the woman and child as a means to an end, violating her inherent dignity, and exploits the woman for an agenda of death.”

CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Penny Nance said, “Abortion always ends the life of an innocent unborn child, and forced abortions in the context of surrogacy arrangements are no different. Surrogacy all too often places unborn children at risk of abortion when the baby is diagnosed with certain complications. Congress must pass Rep. Andy Ogles’ Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2026 to ensure that no child is subject to forced abortion when they aren’t exactly what someone wanted. Children are not commodities to be controlled or products to be perfected; they are gifts from God intended to be treasured by one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage.”

Surrogacy does not treat the child, or the mother, as living, human beings, but as merchandise to be bought or discarded at will. The Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2026 will help protect the surrogate mother’s right to preserve the child she has nurtured in her womb and the living child’s right to be born.