“Being a mother comes first for me. Before my husband, before this surrogacy crusade, before myself. I don't see myself as particularly strong.”

“He considers me just a uterus with legs.”

“I don't particularly like being pregnant. I like the baby at the end. Pregnancy is a very distant thing for me. I can't seem to believe there's really a baby there. It's such a miracle.”

“I gave her life, I can take life away.”

“I have great sympathy for people that are infertile, but a life is not something you can give away.”

“I try not to pass judgment on anyone, and I wish they wouldn't pass it on me.”

“I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes. I'd do a lot of things different if I could. I'd never, ever, get involved with surrogacy again. It's so weird.”

“I'm this high school dropout. I quit in my sophomore year, when I was 15. I worked for a while in a deli, and when I was almost 17, I got married.”

“Nature's laws have to supersede man's law.”

“Out of the ashes of Sara Whitehead rose Melissa Stern. Out of the ashes of Mary Beth Whitehead, there were pieces lost.”

“People come out of prison and aren't treated like I've been treated. I didn't kill anybody. I didn't violate anybody's rights. My rights were violated. Nobody likes to be hated, but the whole world hated Mary Beth Whitehead.”

“People wanted me to be like the Madonna, the white nun, you know, and that's not me. But I'm no villain.”

“Women just weren't made to bear children to give them away.”

“You cannot contract to sell a baby. If they legalize this contract they may soon start bringing poor women in from other countries just to be breeders.”