>Judge Marlon Weiss, going beyond what is typically required in such a case, suggested in his order that surrogacy may be unconstitutional. His ruling holds that if unborn children are entitled to [personhood](https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2024/01/25/florida-abortion-six-week-fetus-personhood-unborn/) — which he implies is correct, citing legal articles in favor of that view — those children cannot be subject to an ownership contract.

>In November, roughly 24 hours after the fathers told the court about the baby’s birth, Attorney General James Uthmeier began pushing to intervene in the case.

>His office is arguing that surrogacy is akin to slavery, saying it violates the 13th Amendment and should be deemed unconstitutional, according to a lawyer representing the family.

>A case is now pending in front of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The child has been with the fathers since birth and is not likely to be removed from their care.

>This is not the first time Uthmeier, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis a little over a year ago, has injected himself into a normally uncontested court case. His office’s involvement in a 17-year-old’s [request for an abortion last spring](https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/05/30/florida-abortion-ban-judicial-bypass-parental-consent-uthmeier/) further whittled down Florida’s abortion access.

>The fact that his office got wind of the surrogacy case is remarkable. The court didn’t ask him to intervene.

>Surrogacy cases are confidential under Florida law. But when Weiss published his order, he wrote that his ruling was not confidential because it didn’t share identifying information about the child or parents. A month later, he submitted it as part of his application to be on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. And in December, the order was published in a law trade journal.

>It’s not clear how Uthmeier’s office heard about the case. Uthmeier’s office declined to confirm or clarify its arguments to the Times/Herald, saying the case is confidential.

Surrogacy is akin to slavery, Florida AG says - A married couple contracted with a Florida woman to carry their child in a standard surrogacy case. A judge’s unusual order and the intervention of the Florida attorney general set off a chain of events that could reshape a range of reproductive issues