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The belly of a pregnant woman lying down is featured. The photo is filtered in sepia tone.

Battle pits infertile couples against faith groups, who call it "renting a womb." 

Ann and Chris Carda received a phone call two years ago that changed their lives. A woman from their Minnetonka church offered to carry a baby for the couple, who were unable to conceive on their own.

Amid their excitement, they discovered a campaign to tighten restrictions on surrogate pregnancies in Minnesota. Led by the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the Minnesota Family Council, the campaign describes surrogacy as an immoral practice akin to “renting a womb.”

Surrogacy has become the latest frontier of reproductive rights at the State Capitol, with legislation expected to be introduced this year. Most of the opposition targets paid surrogacies, but some proposed changes would affect altruistic ones like the Cardas’.

“I respect that people have specific religious beliefs, but there’s many different views in the church,” said Carda, a faithful Episcopalian.

But surrogacy opponents argue that people don’t have the right to have children just because they want them.

“A child has a natural right to be conceived in the womb [of...