In a video podcast released Oct. 14 by anti-abortion group Live Action, Uthmeier said he would use “every tool in his office” to close abortion clinics and described a Broward County family-court case as a way to bring fetal personhood before the courts. He said he hoped abortion would end in Florida “in the near future.”

Uthmeier, a Republican appointed attorney general by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025, is seeking to intervene in a case involving a Florida woman who carried a child for two French men. The woman agreed to the arrangement, and the case record described in the podcast does not allege that she was coerced or wanted to keep the child. The proceedings were confidential.

The child has since left Florida with the fathers after they adopted the infant with the birth mother’s consent. Uthmeier is continuing his legal challenge, and a hearing is scheduled in a state appeals court in January, according to the report. His filings argue that surrogacy agreements are unconstitutional because they amount to the sale of a person, invoking the 13th Amendment’s prohibition on slavery. He has also cited the Bible in his sealed brief.

Surrogacy has been legal in Florida since 1993 and has helped thousands of people build families, supporters say. The Legislature did impose restrictions this year barring people from certain countries from hiring Florida surrogates. Uthmeier’s challenge goes further by questioning the constitutionality of the state’s surrogacy framework.

Family-law attorney Karen Persis, who represents a coalition of attorneys opposing Uthmeier’s intervention, called his slavery comparison a misunderstanding of how surrogacy works. Attorney Charlotte Danciu, who has handled surrogacy cases for three decades, said she had never seen a Florida attorney general enter such a case.

The implications could extend beyond surrogacy. If embryos were recognized as legal persons, Persis said, the ruling could affect egg, sperm and embryo donation as well as in vitro fertilization. Fetal-personhood advocates argue that embryos and fetuses should have the same rights as people who have been born; opponents say that approach could undermine reproductive care and make abortion illegal even in cases of rape or incest.

Florida already prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. In 2024, 57% of voters backed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have protected abortion access until viability, generally around 22 weeks. The measure fell short of the 60% approval required to amend the state constitution.

Uthmeier, then DeSantis’ chief of staff, helped campaign against that measure, known as Amendment 4. DeSantis later credited him with leading the effort to defeat it. Uthmeier is now running for attorney general against Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, making his positions on abortion and reproductive care part of the election debate.

Since taking office, Uthmeier has also challenged Florida’s judicial-waiver process for minors seeking abortions without parental approval and has sued Planned Parenthood, alleging the organization misleads patients about abortion medication. His claims about the medication have been rated mostly false by PolitiFact, according to the report.

The Broward case could ultimately reach the Florida Supreme Court if Uthmeier continues to pursue an appeal. A ruling on fetal personhood could reshape state law well beyond the dispute over one surrogacy agreement.