Though they used a surrogate, Tagg and Jen Romney are still the biological parents. Mitt's son has twins via surrogate

Tagg Romney, Mitt and Ann Romney’s oldest son, announced the birth of twin boys Friday — born through a surrogate.

It’s not a rare practice for much of the country, but it could raise some eyebrows with parts of the anti-abortion movement — and some in the Mormon church.


“Happy 2 announce birth of twin boys David Mitt and William Ryder. Big thanks to our surrogate. Life is a miracle,” Tagg Romney tweeted late Friday.

He added in a Facebook post that he and his wife, Jen, used a “gestational surrogate” to carry the babies — meaning that Jen and Tagg Romney are the genetic parents, but the embryos were implanted in and carried by another woman.

“A special thanks to our gestational surrogate who made this possible for us. Life truly is a miracle, and we feel so blessed to be able to celebrate the arrival of these precious boys into our family. For those keeping score at home, these are grandchildren numbers 17 and 18 for my parents.”

ABC’s The Note reported that the couple used the same surrogate for their youngest son, Jonathan, born in August 2010. Their other three children were not born via surrogacy.

Neither in vitro fertilization — which is one step in a gestational surrogacy pregnancy — nor the surrogacy itself are uncommon nowadays. But to some parts of the anti-abortion movement, they remain controversial because “excess” fertilized embryos can be destroyed. The Catholic Church opposes IVF.

And the handbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not rule out IVF for a married couple. It does say the church “strongly discourages surrogate motherhood.”

That single sentence, however, doesn’t explain how the church is defining surrogacy, or necessarily how it would regard this particular case.

Sometimes, like in the famous “Baby M” case, a surrogate mother is also the biological mother. She is artificially inseminated, the egg is hers, and she carries the baby to birth.

But the term can also refer to a “gestational carrier,” as in the Romneys’ case.

Michael Purdy, a spokesman for the LDS Church, told the Associated Press that, while the church discourages surrogate motherhood, it leaves the decision to individual members.

A campaign official said the babies were born Friday and that Tagg Romney “made the bishops in his church aware of his family’s plans.”

Asked whether Mitt Romney had publicly expressed views on IVF or surrogacy, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul emailed his position on stem cell research. He has repeatedly voiced support for stem cell research using excess embryos from IVF under “appropriate ethical boundaries.”

According to a biography written by a distant Romney relative, Ronald B Scott, a former Time Inc writer, at least three of Mitt Romney’s sons have used in vitro fertilization.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:43 p.m. on May 4, 2012.