Meghan Trainor Used a Surrogate. Why Is That Anyone's Business?
In case you missed it, Meghan Trainor and her husband Daryl Sabara welcomed their daughter Mikey Moon Trainor in January 2026 and she arrived via surrogate. Meghan shared the news on Instagram with a beautiful post thanking their surrogate and medical team, and the internet promptly lost its mind.
The hot takes came fast. Critics accused her of using surrogacy out of vanity (she's been candid about a 60-pound weight loss over the past year). Some claimed it was ethically wrong. One post went viral insisting the baby wasn't really "hers." Meghan addressed the swirling speculation directly and explained that after two high-risk pregnancies, including one that resulted in postpartum PTSD and a NICU stay, her doctors advised that carrying a third pregnancy posed real physical risk to her. She chose surrogacy because it was the safest option for her family.
And honestly? She shouldn't have had to explain that at all.
The "Why" Is Nobody's Business
Here's my professional opinion as an ART attorney, offered free of charge to the entire internet: the reason someone chooses surrogacy is between them, their family, and their medical team.
People pursue gestational surrogacy for all kinds of reasons. Medical necessity, like Meghan's situation, is one of them. So is same-sex partnership. So is a history of pregnancy loss, uterine conditions, age, or single parenthood. Some intended parents have experienced years of failed fertility treatments before arriving at surrogacy. Some made the choice quickly. Some agonized over it for a long time.
None of those reasons require a public explanation, a viral defense, or the approval of strangers on the internet. The beauty of surrogacy, and of reproductive autonomy generally, is that it expands the ways families can form.
What Surrogacy Actually Is (Legally Speaking)
Since we're here, let me give you a quick primer on what gestational surrogacy actually involves from a legal standpoint in North Carolina, because there are a lot of misconceptions floating around.
Gestational surrogacy is an arrangement in which a surrogate, called a gestational carrier, carries a pregnancy for intended parents. The baby is not genetically related to the surrogate. The embryo is created through IVF using the intended parents' egg and sperm, or donor gametes, and then transferred to the gestational carrier. The surrogate has no genetic connection to the child she carries.
This is different from traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate uses her own egg, creating a genetic relationship with the child. Gestational surrogacy is by far the more common arrangement today, and it's what Meghan Trainor used.
What Does the Legal Process Look Like in North Carolina?
North Carolina doesn't have a specific surrogacy statute, which means there's no single law that governs every aspect of the process. What that means in practice is that the legal documentation, primarily the gestational surrogacy agreement, carries a lot of weight. It has to be thorough, and it has to be executed correctly.
A gestational surrogacy agreement in NC covers the rights and responsibilities of all parties, compensation for the gestational carrier, what happens in various medical scenarios, and parental rights. In most cases, intended parents in North Carolina can obtain a pre-birth order, which is a court order issued before delivery that establishes the intended parents as the legal parents. Their names go on the birth certificate. The gestational carrier is not listed as a parent.
Whether a pre-birth order is available depends on factors like the intended parents' marital status, genetic connection to the child, and the county where delivery takes place. This is why working with an ART attorney who knows the North Carolina landscape matters. Not every county handles these the same way, and you want someone who's navigated it before.
To the People in Meghan's Comments Section
The baby is hers. Legally, factually, and in every way that counts. The suggestion that a child born through surrogacy is somehow less a part of their family is not just wrong, it's the kind of stigma that makes already difficult family-building journeys harder for real people who aren't celebrities with a platform to push back.
Surrogacy is a legally recognized, medically supported path to parenthood. The gestational carriers who make it possible are extraordinary people who deserve to be celebrated, not used as a wedge in someone else's culture war argument. And the families formed through surrogacy, whether they're Grammy winners or people you've never heard of, are just families.
Meghan Trainor put it better than most lawyers could: "Surrogacy is just another beautiful way to build a family. It's not something to whisper about or judge." She's right. And if you're exploring surrogacy for your own family, you don't owe anyone an explanation either.
Ready to take the next step in your surrogacy journey? Schedule a consultation with Melenni Balbach at Balbach & Davenport Legal today. We offer flat-fee ART legal services across North Carolina. No billing surprises, just real legal guidance for real families.
