A 47-year-old surrogate mother from California was told to abort one of her triplets – by the babies’ father.
Melissa Cook, who was paid $33,000 to become a surrogate for the unidentified father (as commercial surrogacy is currently legal in some US states), told the New York Postthat she was being threatened with ‘financial ruin’ if she didn’t abort one of the foetuses.
Melissa became pregnant using the father’s sperm and a 20-year-old donor egg via in vitro fertilisation. Three embryos were implanted, and all three started to develop successfully.
The father, who declined to comment in the original story, reportedly raised concerns 8 or 9 weeks into the pregnancy that he was 'overwhelmed’ by the fact the babies were triplets.
However, Melissa says the concerns became increasingly threatening, and that she was contacted several times by the father’s lawyer, who urged her to have a ‘selection reduction’ abortion, and claimed she would become liable for “damages in relation to future care of the children [and] medical costs associated with any extraordinary care the children may need.”
This week, the New York Post reported that Melissa filed a lawsuit claiming that the contract with the biological father violates equal protection rights in the US. It also claims that she is the legal mother of the triplets and is requesting custody of one, and that a custody hearing would determine the ‘fate of the other two’.
Melissa’s lawyer commented:
“The notion that a man can demand that a mother terminate the life of one of the children she carries by an abortion, and then claim that she is liable for money damages when she refuses, is cruel to the mother.”