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Spanish TV star Ana Obregon, 68, causes outrage in Spain with surrogate baby from dead son
The actress has revealed that the child conceived via surrogacy is not hers, but rather her son’s.
Spanish actress Ana Obregón has come under fire after revealing that her new surrogate baby is not her daughter, but in fact, her granddaughter.
Obregón explained before her son, Álex Lequio (born Alessandro Lecquio Jr.), passed away at the age of 27 following complications from cancer in 2020, he had expressed a desire to have children.
As a result, Lequio had samples of his sperm frozen in New York before he tragically passed away.
The controversy surrounding surrogacy in Spain
“This girl isn’t my daughter, she’s my granddaughter,” Obregón told ¡Hola! Magazine on Wednesday.
“This was Aless’s final wish, to bring a child of his own into the world.”
Obregón posed with the baby girl for the cover of the magazine and explained that she was conceived in June 2022 and born last month on March 20, 2023, in Miami, Florida.
Surrogacy, where a woman agrees to conceive and carry to full-term someone else’s child, is illegal in Spain, which is what prompted Obregón to have the child conceived and birthed in the United States.
When Obregón initially spoke about her surrogate child a week ago, when it was first believed the child was her daughter, members of Spain’s left-wing government decried the action.
“Surrogacy is a practice that is not legal in Spain,” said Irene Montero, Minister of Equality and MP from the Podemos left-wing party to reporters.
“It is legally recognized in our country as a form of violence against women.”
The Minister of the Presidency Félix Bolaños said: “Women’s bodies should not be bought nor rented to satisfy anyone’s desires.”
On the opposite side of the political sphere, Patricia Guasp of the conservative Ciudadanos party said that Obregón’s decision may inspire new conversation about the legalization of surrogacy in Spain.
“We have always defended surrogacy,” Guasp said on the news network TVE. She added that the party would put forward new legislation on altruistic surrogacy, where surrogate mothers would not be paid for carrying newborns.
Obregón loves her granddaughter
Obregón’s granddaughter, who has been named Ana Sandra, will be registered at the Spanish consulate in Miami before the two fly back to Madrid.
Despite the controversy, Obregón loves the new addition to her family, saying in an Instagram post that “A light full of love came into my darkness. I will never be alone again. I AM ALIVE AGAIN.”
In another post, she said: “My Aless, I swore I would save you from cancer and I failed you. I promised you I’d bring your daughter into the world and here she is in my arms.”