Skip to footer

Mitt Romney brood grows, twin grandchildren born using surrogate

Mitt Romney welcomes two more grandchildren into the large Romney brood, bringing the total number of grandchildren to 18. The twins were born using a surrogate mother, something discouraged but not forbidden by the Mormon Church.

|
Jae C. Hong/AP
Mitt Romney welcomes two more grandchildren into the large Romney brood. The twins – the 17th and 18th grandchildren – were born using a surrogate mother. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, center, gets a hug from a grandson as his son Tagg, watches on April 24, 2012.
  • By The Associated Press

| Pittsburgh

Mitt Romney is a grandfather again, and he has a surrogate to thank.

Tagg Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's oldest son, announced Friday that he has newborn twin sons. Tagg Romney tweeted "big thanks" to the surrogate who gave birth to the twins. David Mitt and William Ryder were born on Friday.

The two additions mean Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, now have 18 grandchildren. They range in age from 16 to now just a few days old..

Ann Romney tweeted her congratulations. "Grandchildren 17 and 18 are here," she wrote on Twitter. "We can't wait to meet David and William."

Tagg, 42, and his wife, Jen, 39, have appeared on the campaign trail with the former Massachusetts governor, sometimes with their four other children. This is the second time the couple has used a surrogate. Their son Jonathan was born in 2010 via a surrogate.

Tagg Romney spoke with the Mormon Church about his family's plans before the children were born, a campaign aide said. Michael Purdy, a spokesman for the LDS Church, said, the church discourages surrogate motherhood but leaves the decision to individual members.

There is some opposition to surrogacy among social conservatives. The in-vitro fertilization that's required can cause the destruction of embryos, a problem for some anti-abortion groups.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Mitt Romney brood grows, twin grandchildren born using surrogate
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/0507/Mitt-Romney-brood-grows-twin-grandchildren-born-using-surrogate
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe