Why Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham's Surrogacy Choices Are Splitting the Internet

Two Feminist Icons, One Controversial Choice

Baby news from both Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham has put a spotlight on the topic of surrogacy, with headlines coming at a constant clip — first referring to new parents Lady Gaga and fiancé Michael Polansky, who apparently used a surrogate to welcome their baby. Their daughter, Rose Bean Polansky, was reportedly born on June 9. Then, just weeks later, Lena Dunham announced the birth of her first child through a personal op-ed she wrote for Vogue, published on September 16, 2026.

Both women are supposedly aligned with feminist ideas, but when it came to starting a family, they chose a path condemned by a large part of the women's rights movement. Although they are not the first to opt for surrogacy, they are two of the celebrities who have been most harshly criticized for doing so. Each time high-profile figures choose this route, they become targets of vicious hate. Lately there has been another twist: critics argue that surrogacy is inherently antifeminist and exploitative, taking advantage of economically disadvantaged women's bodies for the selfish pursuit of children.

Medical Realities and the Adoption Question

Dunham suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder, and in 2017 she underwent a total hysterectomy due to severe endometriosis — an intervention that makes pregnancy impossible. For Lady Gaga, TMZ proposed that the pop star's lifelong struggle with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, may have spurred her decision. Yet for many critics, medical context changes little. Using health problems as a justification for choosing surrogacy does not convince some of Dunham's fans, who have reminded her that the possibility of adoption also exists.

The debate over surrogacy is extending to the question of how to view women's bodily autonomy. One side argues that the surrogate woman's choice should be respected, while critics ask whether an agreement formed amid economic inequality can be regarded as a fully voluntary choice. For generations, feminism has fought against systems that denied women authority over their bodies — yet contemporary discussions of female autonomy sometimes carry an unexpected condition: we respect a woman's choice when we approve of what she chooses.

America's Unique Relationship With Surrogacy

Most of Europe bans commercial surrogacy. The United Nations has likened it to slavery. But in the United States, business is booming. In the US, paying for the surrogacy process is legal, whereas in Britain only a surrogate's expenses can be reimbursed. Dunham, despite now living in Britain, opted for a Brooklyn-based surrogate. This legal and cultural divide goes a long way toward explaining why the outrage has been louder in Europe than at home.

Surrogacy is notably a cause of the American left rather than the right. Red states tend to have tighter limits on the practice — Louisiana, for example, restricts surrogacy to married heterosexual couples using their own sperm and eggs. By contrast, when New York legalized commercial surrogacy in 2020, LGBTQ activists hailed it as a triumph for "fertility equality." While many conservative anti-abortion activists oppose surrogacy, so do some feminists — including the late Gloria Steinem, who spoke out against the effort to legalize the practice in New York.

A Debate With No Easy Answers

The surrogacy industry is far from perfect — experts agree there is plenty of room for more regulation and improved practices. But that is not going to happen if the entire industry is stigmatized, restricted, or banned. And when another high-profile woman welcomes a baby via surrogacy, condemning her under the guise of protecting women solves nothing.

When surrogacy goes well, the result is a happy family that would not otherwise have existed. When it goes wrong, it can do so in unpredictable and emotionally crushing ways. At its core, the ethical question is this: how much physical and emotional risk should individuals be allowed to take on in the name of a commercial transaction? As surrogacy becomes ever more visible — and celebrities ever more open about it — that question will only grow harder to sidestep, on both sides of the Atlantic.