Ana Obregón, the 68-year-old Spanish actress and well-known celebrity, lost her son to cancer three years ago. Now his baby was born via a surrogate implanted with his frozen sperm. Obregon claims that she was following his dying wish, but the unprecedented combination of facts has left her fans and the public shocked.
Given Obregon’s age, the discovery that she was expecting a baby—even via a surrogate– was already clamorous. But days after the original announcement it was revealed that the baby about to be born in Miami was actually her grandchild, and this was even more shocking. The BBC said this was one of the top conversations people were having in Europe, as it was so controversial.
In an exclusive interview with ¡Hola! magazine, Obregón told the full story.
She detailed how when Aless Lequio Garcia, died, he had opted to freeze his sperm prior to beginning chemotherapy and how he shared his desire to bring a baby into the world after his death.
“Aless was doing very poorly and told us, if anything should happen, he wanted us to know he wanted to leave a descendent in this world. Even if he was no longer here,” Obregón told ¡Hola! “From that moment, the only thing that has allowed me to continue to live each day, each second, is completing his mission to bring Aless’s daughter to the world.”
Surrogacy is illegal in Spain, so she found a surrogate in the United States and used her son’s sperm and donor eggs to help her conceive the child legally.
Obregón said she managed to keep the entire process a secret from everyone save those involved and her two sisters, but it wasn’t easy.
“The pregnancy did not occur on the first attempt,” the new grandmother told ¡Hola!. “It has been several times and every time it didn’t happen, I was terribly upset and started over. It’s been a battle, a long road.”
Dr. Christina Burns, founder of Naturna and author of The Ultimate Fertility Guidebook says, “I’ve only seen involvement when a grandparent gives money to help pay for IVF processes. I’ve never seen one use the gametes of a deceased child. Generally, it would be a partner. In lieu of a partner, rarely would another family member step in.”
Another fertility expert states that, she personally, hasn’t seen grandparents’ involvement in her many years of private practice.
While surrogacy is illegal in Spain, there are no laws against using a surrogate outside of the country and then returning with a baby via adoption, which is what the new mother/grandmother plans to do.
According to the Associated Press, when the news broke over Obregón’s baby, Spain’s leftist coalition government wasn’t shy about making their criticism known, calling for legislation to prevent more Spaniards from going abroad to seek surrogacy.
While many individuals across social media have also criticized Obregón for her choice, she maintains that she needed to make sure her son’s final wishes come true: “It is something that only fathers or mothers who have lost a child will understand perfectly.”
