Surrogate offered $10k to abort

Surrogate Crystal Kelley holds 'Baby S', the girl she refused to abort for $US10,000, after an ultrasound showed the baby would have serious medical problems. Picture: CNN Source: Supplied

A US couple offered a surrogate $US10,000 ($9843) to abort a foetus with severe medical problems, setting off a bizarre ordeal after the woman refused and fled across the country.

Surrogate Crystal Kelley was hired to carry a married couple's fourth child for $US22,000. But when an ultrasound at five months showed the baby girl would have a cleft lip and palate, a brain cyst and a serious heart condition, the parents insisted she have an abortion, CNN reports.

Doctors said the baby girl would have just a 25 per cent chance at a "normal life". The genetic parents – who have two children born premature and with ongoing medial problems – said terminating the pregnancy would be the "more humane" option.

"They were both visibly upset. The mother was crying", Ms Kelley told CNN. "They said they didn't want to bring a baby into the world only for that child to suffer…They said I should try to be God-like and have mercy on the child and let her go."

However, Ms Kelley disagreed and refused to terminate the pregnancy, despite her surrogacy contract agreeing to "abortion in case of severe foetus abnormality".

The married parents offered her $US10,000 to have an abortion, but Kelley "in a moment of weakness" asked for $US15,000. Ms Kelley now says she instantly regretted her counter-offer and never would have been able to go through with the abortion.

In the next dramatic twist, the furious parents said they would exercise their parental rights and take custody of the baby once she was born – and then would immediately surrender her to the state of Connecticut, where the girl would spend her life in foster care as a ward of a state. Connecticut law allows parents to surrender their infants within one month of birth without charges of abandonment.

Ms Kelley, a single mum, says her "mama bear" instinct took over, and she fled to Michigan with her two daughters. There, Kelley was legally recognised as the baby's mother, and a family with special needs children agreed to adopt the baby when she was born.

Next, the baby's genetic parents filed for legal rights in Connecticut – dropping the bombshell that the embryo had been from an anonymous donour, not the wife. Just weeks after 'Baby S' was born, the parents and Ms Kelley struck a deal – the father gave up his parental rights in exchange for he and the wife being allowed to visit the girl, which they have since done.

'Baby S', born on June 25, suffers from even more extensive medical problems than the ultrasound first revealed. Her internal organs are in the wrong place, she has a cleft lip and palate, complex heart problems, and two non-functioning spleens. In addition, her head is very small and one ear is severely misshapen.

She's already had open-heart surgery and an operation on her intestines, and faces more complicated surgeries if she is to survive. Even then, there is a 50 per cent chance she will never walk, talk or use her hands normally, doctors say.

However, despite her medical problems, Baby S's adoptive parents say she has beaten the odds and is living a happy life.

"She wakes up every single morning with an infectious smile," they wrote to CNN. "She greets her world with a constant sense of enthusiasm. Ultimately, we hold onto a faith that in providing S with love, opportunity, encouragement, she will be the one to show us what is possible for her life and what she is capable of achieving."

Meanwhile, Ms Kelley, who has written about Baby S and her ordeal on her blog, believes she did the right thing.

"I knew from the beginning that this little girl had an amazing fighting spirit, and whatever challenges were thrown at her, she would go at them with every ounce of spirit that she could possibly have. No matter what anyone told me, I became her mother."

 

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