Florida’s most senior law official has intervened in a surrogacy case, arguing that the practice may violate the US Constitution and amount to “modern-day slavery”.

Two French men paid a woman in Florida to be their surrogate and asked a local court to recognise them as the child’s legal parents before the surrogate gave birth.

Judge Marlon Weiss granted the order but simultaneously raised constitutional concerns.

In his ruling, he asked: “if a preborn living human being is entitled to legal personhood, it goes without saying that such persons cannot be subject to contractual bartering or ownership.”

Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, later intervened in the case to argue that subjecting a person to such a contract woul dbe akin to slavery and would violate the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War to end the practice of slavery in the United States.

A week ago he reiterated the charge in a post on his personal X account.

“Today, registered sex offenders and foreigners – including Chinese nationals – buy thousands of babies from US surrogacy companies,” Mr Uthmeier wrote.

“This modern-day slavery is morally wrong, endangers children, and threatens national security. It must be stopped.”