Belén, a single mother of three living in poverty, was scrolling through Facebook one day in 2022 when she came across an opportunity she believed could change her life.
uncertain
she → live → life
The then-31-year-old was working as a waitress and struggling to afford food for her children while living in the home of her physically abusive ex-boyfriend.
asserted
old → work → boyfriend
So when she saw a post from a wealthy gay couple who were looking for a surrogate to carry their child, Belén says she ‘saw the way out’ of her situation and immediately contacted them to arrange a meeting.
asserted
she → see → meeting
The couple promised to pay her and help her escape her abusive home.
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her → promise → home
But in the years that followed, Belén says she barely saw a penny and was forced to beg for money to feed and clothe her children.
asserted
she → follow → children
She was stripped of the right to make decisions about her own body and left feeling ‘exploited, used and abandoned’.
Following a traumatic C-section, she says the couple and their family members screamed at her as she lay in bed, crying in pain, and threatened to send her to jail and take away her children.
And worst of all, Belén says she was barely allowed 10 minutes with her baby after leaving the hospital, before the couple snatched him away and ran off, leaving her heartbroken and alone on the street.
‘I realised that I had simply been their incubator - the cheapest one they could find,’ she told the Daily Mail.
Belén was stripped of the right to make decisions about her own body and left feeling ‘exploited, used and abandoned’
An ultrasound image shows Piero, the baby boy she birthed on September 30, 2024
Now, several years after giving birth to a baby boy named Piero, Belén speaks to me from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, about her heartbreaking experience as a surrogate and why she is now campaigning to make the practice illegal.
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practice → strip → surrogate
'When I saw the post, I was at a point where I was emotionally exhausted from constantly trying to survive and support my three children.
asserted
I → see → children
I was desperate to get out of the violent situation I was in at home,' she says.
asserted
she → get → home
After contacting the two men, Belén arranged to meet them at a cafe, where they asked about her lifestyle, whether she had ever taken drugs and how many children she had.
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she → contact → children
After a brief conversation, the three agreed to sign an informed consent form, the document used in Argentina for assisted reproduction arrangements.
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three → agree → arrangements
Belén tells me that couples seeking a surrogate will usually advertise how much they are willing to pay.
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they → tell → much
In this case, however, the couple had not specified a figure, so the terms were agreed during their meeting.
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terms → specify → meeting
They offered Belén 120,000 Argentine pesos (£60) per month for the first three months of pregnancy, 150,000 (£75) from the third to the sixth month and 180,000 (£90) from the sixth month until delivery.
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They → offer → delivery
‘That amount would barely be enough to buy food,’ Belén says.
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Belén → buy → food
But crucially, the couple also agreed to help her move out of the apartment she shared with her abusive ex-partner.
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she → agree → partner
Desperate to escape, she accepted their offer.
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she → escape → offer
'I met them in March 2022.
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I → meet → March
I didn’t get pregnant until January 2024.'
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I → get → January
she recounts.
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she → recount → ?
'During those years, I was spending my own money to travel and undergo fertility procedures, and taking time off work to recover.
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I → spend → work
They gave me no money during this period.
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They → give → period
She reached a breaking point in December 2023, a month before she finally fell pregnant.
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she → reach → December
'I called them sobbing because I couldn’t buy my children Christmas dinner.
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I → call → dinner
I didn’t have a penny.
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I → have → penny
Only then did they give me just enough to buy some food.'
When she became pregnant with Piero in early 2024, Belén expected the couple to send her the monthly payments they had agreed upon.
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they → give → payments
But they never arrived.
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they → arrive → ?
At first, I thought, “Okay, I’ve only just become pregnant.
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I → think → ?
At some point they’re going to give me something.
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they → go → something
Maybe it's because I'm not far along enough yet."
But then, Belén lost her job, after she was forced to take more time off to recover from bleeding during the pregnancy.
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she → lose → pregnancy
Even then, the couple would not pay her what she was promised.
'
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she → pay → what
By the sixth month, I had still not received any money from them.
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I → receive → them
They didn’t even give me the 120,000 pesos that I had originally been promised.
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I → give → that
I was crying and saying, “This can’t be happening.”
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This → cry → ?
'
'I reached the point where I had nothing to eat.
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I → reach → nothing
I was thinking, “I’m pregnant, I’m doing this for them, and they are giving me nothing.”
asserted
they → think → nothing
Her radiator had broken and she didn't have the funds to fix it.
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she → break → it
When she told the couple of her situation, they simply said: 'Oh, you poor thing, it must be your hormones.
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it → tell → situation
'
The only time Belén received anything from the couple was after medical appointments and ultrasounds, when they would take her out for meals at expensive restaurants.
asserted
they → receive → restaurants
'They would take me out for a nice meal that day and then leave me to go back home and feed my children rice, which is all I could afford.'
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I → take → rice
At this point, Belén realised she had made a mistake in trusting this couple.
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she → realise → couple
…and 99 more, not listed.
The Aporia
