Ana Obregón, a 68-year-old tv star, decided to have a surrogate baby with her dead son’s frozen sperm, sparking outrage in Spain, where the practice is illegal. Often referred to as “womb renting,” Obregón’s surrogacy sparked medical and ethical debates within the largely Catholic nation.
According to the Spanish magazine ¡Hola!, Obregón is famous in Spain and lost her only son, 27-year-old Aless Lequio García, in 2020 to cancer. She revealed that she had indeed adopted a baby girl abroad via surrogacy and that the baby is biologically her granddaughter. The baby’s name is Ana Sandra.
The actress revealed the shocking details after just last week telling the newspaper she had only adopted a baby via surrogate, asserting she did so because she was struggling with the pain of losing her son, as well as finding a reason to live.
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According to Vice, as the story made international headlines, Obregón revealed that she had frozen her son’s sperm before he began cancer treatment in New York. Surrogacy arrangements are legal in most US states.
Raising the baby in Miami since her birth on March 20, the actress explained that doctors recommended to her son that he freeze his sperm before beginning chemotherapy treatments and that her son’s last wish was to have a child.
“He communicated this to his father and I a week before he died,” Obregón stated. “It’s called a holographic testament that’s produced when a person, in front of witnesses, expresses their last wishes.”
The actress said that she began the surrogacy process immediately after the day he died and only shared the news with her sisters at the time.
Spanish Equality Minister Irene Montero condemned the move, calling it “a form of violence against women.”
