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OB/GYN & Pediatrician REACT: The Surrogacy Case Exposing an Ethical Blind Spot episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 27, 2026 · 40 MIN

OB/GYN & Pediatrician REACT: The Surrogacy Case Exposing an Ethical Blind Spot

from The OBservations Podcast

A prenatal diagnosis should never decide whether a child lives or dies. This episode brings a unique perspective to the surrogacy case involving McKenna West and Baby Gabriel case, as OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis and Pediatrician and Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) Dr. Jill Simons discuss the case from a medical perspective. They discuss what it reveals about disability discrimination, commercial surrogacy, and the urgent need to treat pre-born children as patients with dignity. When baby Gabriel was diagnosed in the womb with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the pressure on his surrogate to abort sparked a national conversation about who gets protected in medicine - and who gets treated like a commodity. In this conversation, listen to Drs. Francis and Jill unpack why that diagnosis is not the end of the story, what modern treatment for HLHS actually looks like, and why the right medical response starts with care, not abortion or abandonment. Resources: Learn more about ACPeds Read AAPLOG and ACPeds’ statement on the McKenna West case. Learn more about us at www.aaplog.org Become a member at www.aaplog.org/join Join our mailing list here. Click here to donate. Follow us on: Facebook Twitter Instagram

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Aug 27, 2026

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A prenatal diagnosis should never decide whether a child lives or dies. This episode brings a unique perspective to the surrogacy case involving McKenna West and Baby Gabriel case, as OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis and Pediatrician and Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) Dr. Jill Simons discuss the case from a medical perspective. They discuss what it reveals about disability discrimination, commercial surrogacy, and the urgent need to treat pre-born chil...

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OB/GYN & Pediatrician REACT: The Surrogacy Case Exposing an Ethical Blind Spot

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This episode was published on August 27, 2026.

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