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Surrogate mother sues birth father not to abort one fetus



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Post Thu, Mar 17 2016, 2:52 pm
https://www.washingtonpost.com.....lets/

Quote:
Melissa Cook said she was confronted with a harrowing decision: Would she abort a fetus she was carrying for someone else?

The 47-year-old Californian had agreed to be a surrogate for a 50-year-old postal worker in Georgia, and she became pregnant last year with three boys. But then, she said later in a lawsuit, the man expressed concerns about his dwindling finances and about the health of the babies. He asked her to undergo “selective reduction” to eliminate one of the embryos.

“I am pro life and I am not having an abortion,” Cook told him, according to court documents. “They are all doing just fine.”


Quote:
She said he told her he considered adoption but thought it would be cruel to separate the triplets and opted for abortion instead.

Cook said the man told her: “I made my decision which is best.”

Cook, now 23 weeks’ pregnant, filed a lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming California’s surrogacy law violates due process and equal-protection rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

“I no longer view surrogacy arrangements in the same favorable light I once did,” Cook said in a statement to The Washington Post. “I have a deep empathy for men who want children. However, I now think that the basic concept of surrogacy arrangements must be re-examined, scrutinized and reconsidered.”


Quote:
Cook was implanted with three embryos by in vitro fertilization, using sperm from the man and eggs from a donor. The Georgia man’s attorney, Robert Walmsley, said that after all three embryos had developed, doctors told the father-to-be that there were major medical risks associated with multiple births. Doctors suggested that Cook undergo a “reduction,” a medical term used to describe the elimination of a fetus when there are risks to the mother or child.

“Believe me, it crushed him to make that call or request,” Walmsley told The Post. “It wasn’t a matter of convenience — I don’t want to have three kids.”

In one September email to his attorney, the man — who isn’t identified by name in the lawsuit — appears to discuss “aborting,” according to the court documents. Walmsley said he made the request “to best protect everyone involved.”


Quote:
But Cook contends that the man’s initial concern was that he could not raise all three children.

California is among several surrogate-friendly states. The state law permits commercial surrogacy — in which a woman receives compensation in addition to reimbursement for medical costs and other related expenses. Many other states allow commercial surrogacy with various stipulations. A few states, as well as the District of Columbia, ban it, although D.C. lawmakers have considered allowing it again.

“Compared to the 50 states, District law is among the most restrictive with regard to surrogacy agreements, which is out of step with our commitment as a city to equality and family,” D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said earlier this year, when the council proposed the Collaborative Reproduction Amendment Act of 2015, according to the Washington Times. “I believe surrogacy should be an option for District residents who wish to have children.”


Quote:
Judith Daar, chairman of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Ethics Committee, said that there are thousands of surrogacies each year and that “the vast majority experience no glitches.”

“The fact that we’re seeing these cases now should not be taken as a sign that surrogacy has gone awry,” she told The Post.


Quote:
Torres told the New York Post that she signed a contract for up to $30,000 — $25,000 for one child and an extra $5,000 for more.

She was implanted with two embryos — one that was a female and the other that split into twin males.

She said the couple asked her to eliminate the female, citing medical concerns.

“I emailed my doctors. There were no abnormalities,” Torres told the New York Post, referring to a conversation she said she had with the triplets’ biological mother. “I told her I couldn’t abort one of the children,” she added. “I could not emotionally and physically do that at nearly 13 weeks. I believe it will be killing this baby.”

Instead, she said, she told them she would be willing to adopt the unwanted child.


Quote:
Andrew Vorzimer, an attorney for the biological parents and a mediator in the case, said the situation has since been resolved. No lawsuit was ever filed in the case.

Vorzimer said that numerous physicians had recommended a reduction for the surrogate’s health and that “everyone agreed she would do it.” But when it came time, he said, “she felt uncomfortable.”

“She couldn’t do it,” he told The Post.

As for the suggestion to eliminate the female, Vorzimer said it would have been easier to do so because the males were in the same sac. The notion that the biological parents did not want a girl “could not be further from the truth,” he said.

An attorney for Torres declined to comment.


Quote:
Walmsley said the biological father has accepted Cook’s decision — although he may not agree with it — and has said he will raise all three children.
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