Murray Questions Choice After Surrogate Mother Chooses NOT To Get an Abortion

Alex Christy
August 22nd, 2026 2:09 PM

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Liberals are always telling us they believe in choice and that women should be allowed to do what they want with bodies, but after surrogate mother McKenna West traveled to Texas and chose not to get an abortion, MS NOW’s Melissa Murray wasn’t so sure. It’s not that the Saturday Connect guest host suddenly became pro-life, but rather she claimed surrogacy disputes are complicated, as West is currently being sued for $100,000 by a California couple for not getting an abortion.

According to Murray, conservatives’ embrace of West and her case are part of something more sinister, although her definition of sinister is rather perverted, “[Conservatives], whose central claim is that an unborn fetus should have the same rights and legal protections as a person. Speaking to The 19th, [“reproductive rights law scholar” Mary] Ziegler said that targeting surrogacy is the next natural step for abortion opponents who have failed to meaningfully restrict IVF, which is broadly popular.”

 

 

Murray also mourned, “Indeed, the politics that have now engulfed cases like this one are obscuring the bigger, long-standing questions that have been at the heart of commercial surrogacy. Questions like 'At what point does a woman's authority over her own pregnant body end and the rights of the intended parents begin?' And who gets to decide what happens to a fetus if something goes wrong?' None of these questions are new. In fact, they are decades old, and there's still no legal consensus on how to resolve them.”

She then suggested that it would be wrong to praise West as hero, “In most cases, there is no clear villain and there's no clear hero. There's a surrogate and a set of intended parents, both of whom believe they're doing something good. And between them is this vast, unsettled, legal gray area.”

Murray then introduced attorney Brian Esser and later in the segment asked him why West chose Texas, “So some states have comprehensive laws, and I know you were very involved in helping to pass New York's law, the Child Parent Security Act. But Texas is a state without these kinds of surrogacy protections. And this is where McKenna West went to from Alaska. Why was Texas her destination? This is a state that doesn't have a lot to say about surrogacy. It does have a lot to say about what pregnant women can do with their bodies. Is that part of the calculus here?”

Even Esser had to somewhat correct Murray on her Texas talking points, “Yeah, I'm not licensed in Texas. I do think Texas has a surrogacy statute. It's an older one and may not have a lot of the best practices that have developed in recent years that are incorporated in the New York statute and a number of other more recent statutes.”

 

 

What is interesting is that in both the Texas and New York laws, a surrogate cannot be sued for refusing to get an abortion. The fact that a blue state like California that prides itself on “choice” cannot immediately throw out the lawsuit against West means that it, not Texas, is the problem.

However, instead of defending his own New York law, Esser continued attacking Texas, “But yeah, I think Texas was the destination for two reasons. One, because of its draconian reproductive rights laws, including the bounty hunter law, right, that we don't talk about as much anymore as we used to.”

We don’t talk about it because the doom and gloom scenarios put forth by MS NOW talking heads have not come to fruition.

Nevertheless, Esser continued, “In the intro you referenced the attorney general, Ken Paxton, and his Senate run. He's a — he has a lot of interest in, in getting involved in this and raising his profile.”

Murray still wanted to paint conservatives as the problem, “So is this all part of a larger conservative effort to perhaps change the legal status of surrogacy? Maybe this isn't about just resolving this dispute between these two parties, but a bigger fight about moving surrogacy in the direction that abortion has moved.”

Esser agreed, “It certainly looks that way, doesn't it?... things like that, as well as a larger discussion about birth rates in the United States, who can and should be parents, how governments facilitate or discourage certain groups of people, whether those are single individuals, same-sex couples, even people who choose to wait to start their families. And all of those are groups of people who often take advantage of gestational surrogacy arrangements.”

West’s battle affirms the pro-life position that human life is human life regardless of the stage of biological development or medical difficulties the individual faces. For liberals, West’s choice actually highlights the absurdity of the “pro-choice” position, so MS NOW has to deflect by turning Texas and its GOP Senate nominee into the bad guy and pretending that the simple moral question of whether a woman can be compelled to get an abortion is actually complicated.

Here is a transcript for the August 22 show:

Connect With Jacob Soboroff

8/22/2026

10:44 AM ET

MELISSA MURRAY: One whose central claim is that an unborn fetus should have the same rights and legal protections as a person. Speaking to The 19th, Ziegler said that targeting surrogacy is the next natural step for abortion opponents who have failed to meaningfully restrict IVF, which is broadly popular.

The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, has published papers arguing that surrogacy should be outlawed. Indeed, the politics that have now engulfed cases like this one are obscuring the bigger, long-standing questions that have been at the heart of commercial surrogacy.

Questions like “At what point does a woman's authority over her own pregnant body end and the rights of the intended parents begin?” And “who gets to decide what happens to a fetus if something goes wrong?” None of these questions are new. In fact, they are decades old, and there's still no legal consensus on how to resolve them.

In most cases, there is no clear villain and there's no clear hero. There's a surrogate and a set of intended parents, both of whom believe they're doing something good. And between them is this vast, unsettled, legal gray area.

…

So some states have comprehensive laws, and I know you were very involved in helping to pass New York's law, the Child Parent Security Act. But Texas is a state without these kinds of surrogacy protections. And this is where McKenna West went to from Alaska. Why was Texas her destination? This is a state that doesn't have a lot to say about surrogacy. It does have a lot to say about what pregnant women can do with their bodies. Is that part of the calculus here?

BRIAN ESSER: Yeah. Yeah, I'm not licensed in Texas. I do think Texas has a surrogacy statute. It's an older one and may not have a lot of the best practices that have developed in recent years that are incorporated in the New York statute and a number of other more recent statutes. But yeah, I think Texas was the destination for two reasons. One, because of its draconian reproductive rights laws, including the bounty hunter law, right, that we don't talk about as much anymore as we used to. But the law that—

MURRAY: This is the abortion bounty hunter law.

ESSER: Correct.

MURRAY: Yeah.

ESSER: The one about assisting in the facilitation of obtaining an abortion as well as the political aspect. In the intro you referenced the attorney general, Ken Paxton, and his Senate run. He's a — he has a lot of interest in, in getting involved in this and raising his profile.

MURRAY: So is this all part of a larger conservative effort to perhaps change the legal status of surrogacy? Maybe this isn't about just resolving this dispute between these two parties, but a bigger fight about moving surrogacy in the direction that abortion has moved.

ESSER: It certainly looks that way, doesn't it? I mean, I don't have a crystal ball. I'm not—I don't attend ADF meetings where they plan legal strategy. But it certainly seems of a piece with, as you referenced, the mifepristone legislation—litigation and in Dobbs and things like that, as well as a larger discussion about birth rates in the United States, who can and should be parents, how governments facilitate or discourage certain groups of people, whether those are single individuals, same-sex couples, even people who choose to wait to start their families. And all of those are groups of people who often take advantage of gestational surrogacy arrangements.

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