Paris Hilton has surprised her family and the world again with the announcement that she and her husband Carter Reum have welcomed a second child, presumably through the use of a surrogate.
On Thanksgiving, Hilton shared a picture of a pink baby outfit with the name London on it, along with heart sunglasses and a toy bunny. She captioned it, “Thankful for my baby girl.”
The same day that her social media followers learned about Baby London, so did Hilton’s family. Hilton explained on “Live with Kelly and Mark” on Monday, “It was the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had in my life.” After gathering the family for dinner, her husband told them he had a surprise.
“Everyone thought a magician was coming …,” said Hilton, “then I walk in just holding a pink blanket with a baby and everybody was sitting there like, ‘What?!'”
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The couple’s born son Phoenix is just 10 months old and was delivered via a surrogate earlier this year. Around that time, Hilton shared why she chose IVF and surrogacy, stating that she and Reum wanted to start a family on their “own terms” when they “were both ready.” So they went through the process of IVF multiple times.
Hilton declared earlier this year that she had 20 sons frozen while she underwent the IVF process again to see if she could create any daughters. In all, she went through seven rounds of IVF, costing an estimated $200,000. She said she had always dreamed of being a mother.
Yet, she also announced that while she was in her 20s, she underwent an abortion because she “was not ready for that.” As for Reum, he has another daughter with whom he allegedly does not have a relationship.
Each of Hilton’s unknown number of children is a victim of a society that has become obsessed with self and sex. Children have become commodities to be built, bought, sold, and discarded based on the whims and desires of adults. But children aren’t items on a shelf or a menu; they are human beings regardless of their stage of development within the womb, the petri dish, or the bassinet. Abortion, IVF, and surrogacy deny children their inherent rights as human beings.
Children have the right to life and the right to not be unjustly killed. Whether or not someone feels ready to be a parent doesn’t change that human life begins at fertilization and sex is the natural procreative act. Not feeling “ready to parent” doesn’t give anyone the “right” to kill a child they create.
Children also have the right to be treated as human beings, not as products. There are currently estimated to be one million children frozen in the United States alone. Many are labeled “leftovers” from IVF procedures. Once desperately “wanted” by their parents, they were soon deemed “extras” once the parents had their desired number of born children. The remainder of their children will either be destroyed, donated to research, or given away to another couple if they aren’t left perpetually frozen. An estimated 1.7 million human beings have already died during the IVF process.
For those who are carried by a surrogate, research shows that they can suffer a “major physiologic stressor” when they are separated from her — their birth mother, with whom they have been bonding for months. Studies have shown this can permanently alter the baby’s brain, leaving her susceptible to depression, abandonment issues, and emotional issues related to attachment, bonding, and self-esteem.
Hilton is, of course, highly unlikely to allow all 20+ of her currently frozen children to be born, which means the majority will be labeled unwanted and discarded or left frozen indefinitely. But a person’s inherent rights and humanity exist naturally and independently of someone else’s opinion of them.
