Recently, a reporter who went undercover to investigate the growing international commercial surrogacy industry in Kenya found that Kenya has no real laws on the books governing surrogacy. Some would-be parents, including wealthy international couples, fudge the rules to get what they want. In some cases, couples have convinced the surrogate to illegally list their names on the child’s birth certificate – which legally erases the mother from the child’s life, forever.

With one-third of Kenyans living in poverty, and the cost of surrogacy there less than a third of what it costs in the United States, the situation is ripe for exploitation, corruption, and violence.

There is no official count of the number of babies born by surrogacy in Kenya. Every one is born into a tragic situation. Even if it were just one, it’s awful. Neither babies nor poor women are bodies for sale. And all children have a right to their own mother and father.