A Difficult Conversation About Surrogacy, IVF, and Parenthood
The Winston Marshall Show
Winston Marshall
4.8 • 657 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of The Winston Marshall Show, I sit down with children’s rights activist and author Katie Faust to explore one of the most contentious debates of our time: what do children actually need to thrive?
Faust argues that modern conversations around family, marriage, and reproduction have become overwhelmingly focused on adult desires while the rights and wellbeing of children are increasingly ignored. Drawing on years of work with families and young people, she makes the case that children are uniquely shaped by their biological mother and father, and that removing either comes with real, measurable consequences.
We examine the impact of divorce, fatherlessness, and non-traditional family structures, including same-sex parenting, surrogacy, and sperm and egg donation. Faust outlines her “children’s rights” framework, arguing that identity, safety, and stability are deeply connected to biological parenthood and that modern family law has flattened those distinctions.
The conversation also tackles the ethics of IVF and surrogacy, including the commodification of reproduction, the separation of biological and birth parents, and the long-term psychological effects on children. We debate whether the desire for more births in a time of demographic decline justifies these technologies, or whether they risk creating new harms.
Finally, Faust shares her personal journey from growing up in an unconventional family to becoming a leading voice in this space and explains why she believes society must re-centre the child in every discussion about family.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:59 Upbringing With Divorced Parents & Mother’s Same-Sex Relationship
05:37 Why She Opposes Gay Marriage
08:24 Children’s Rights: Identity, Safety & Biological Parents
12:25 The “Cinderella Effect” & Risks of Non-Biological Households
15:30 Policy, Divorce Laws & Incentivising Family Breakdown
18:45 “Modern Family” vs Biological Parenthood Debate
22:22 Why She Rejects Same-Sex Parenting (Child-Centred Argument)
27:41 Debate: Do Children Need a Mother and Father?
30:40 Population Crisis vs “Children’s Rights First”
33:34 Single Mothers by Choice & Missing Fathers
37:48 Should the Law Restrict Family Structures?
45:24 Surrogacy, Donors & “Commodification” of Children
49:02 Surrogacy & the “Primal Wound” Argument
55:10 IVF, Eugenics & Ethical Concerns
01:10:57 Final Thoughts
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to The Winston Marshall Show with me, Winston Marshall. On this episode, |
| 0:05.5 | we wander into the moral minefield that is the new ways of family life and the new ways |
| 0:12.9 | of parenthood, not just through gay marriage, adoption, divorce, surrogacy, sperm donations, egg donations. |
| 0:23.4 | I wanted to have this conversation because we've done several episodes on the birth crisis, which is, of course, affecting most of the world and |
| 0:28.9 | might be the greatest threat to humanity. And I wanted to look at how in the new world people |
| 0:34.7 | are having families in very different ways. |
| 0:47.1 | My guest is Katie Fauser, a child's rights activist and someone who is absolutely not afraid to go and wade into these controversial issues. |
| 0:50.1 | Before you hear from Katie, I just wanted to say thank you. |
| 0:53.4 | Thank you for your continued support without which we could not keep this show on the road. If you want to support the show, all you have to do is press subscribe or follow wherever you get your |
| 0:57.7 | podcasts from. And if you head over to Winstonmartial.com.uk, not only will you enjoy |
| 1:04.5 | ad-free viewing and listening, but you'll be able to ask future guests your questions. That's all |
| 1:09.7 | at Winstonmartial.com.com. And if you're enjoying the show and want to support the show, |
| 1:15.4 | another way you can do that is by sharing the show. And some of these episodes, no doubt, |
| 1:20.2 | a hand grenade into your families and friendships. But on the other hand, they might be |
| 1:26.3 | interesting ways of provoking new and difficult |
| 1:29.8 | topics. Conversations I think that we need to have as a society. Katie Fausse, welcome to the |
| 1:36.0 | show. Great to have you here. You are a children's rights activist and author of several books, |
| 1:43.2 | then before us, why we need a global children's rights movement. author of several books. Then Before Us, Why We Need a Global |
| 1:44.7 | Children's Rights Movement. And you have been an advocate for, particularly children's rights |
| 1:53.2 | with regards to gay marriage is probably what's been what you're maybe most famous for. But if you |
| 1:59.8 | think I'm wrong, you do correct me. |
| 2:02.5 | And I wanted to talk to you because we're in this new age on the show. We've covered a lot of |
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