This past weekend, Melissa Harris-Perry shared the news that she and her husband welcomed a new baby girl born on Valentine’s Day. It was reported that the couple had adopted the child. On Tuesday, she shared that her daughter was borne through surrogacy.
The MSNBC host explained in a letter on their site that she’d had a hysterectomy in 2008 as a result of painful uterine fibroids. She’d had one child, daughter Parker, at the time, but had intended to have more. “I wept for the children I would never have and made peace with the idea that one is enough.”
However, she met current husband James Perry shortly after the procedure. The couple wanted to have children, but Harris-Perry was dubious about adding to their family since she couldn’t carry the child.
She explained that it wasn’t until she’d confided in a friend who’d gone through the process that she considered surrogacy.
[Image: Twitter]
“Then I learned a dear friend and his husband were expecting their second child via surrogacy. He is a feminist scholar and a politically progressive intellectual. When I discussed my concerns with the ethics of surrogacy, he understood. He repeatedly talked with James and me, introduced us to a thoughtful attorney, and shared the good and bad of his own surrogacy story. I read everything I could find, consulted everyone I could, and prayed a lot. In 2012, James and I began our journey with enormous faith and more than a little trepidation.”
Harris-Perry had retained her ovaries, so the couple was able to create biological embryos. She described the IVF process as “a physically taxing and emotionally brutal process,” but now she and her husband have happily added to their family. They are keeping the identity of the surrogate hidden at her request.
“I am shocked and thrilled to find myself at 40, raising a tween and a tot. I will be taking a bit of time off from hosting MHP Show, but during my maternity leave, you can still join me in a special MSNBC Community Challenge called “The Mother of All Politics.” And beginning in May, I will pen a monthly column for Essence magazine chronicling my parenting adventures.”
Congratulations to the happy family!
[Image: Twitter]