Surrogate Refuses Offer of $10,000 to Abort

Bioedge reports that a couple in the Northeast offered their surrogate mother (CrystalKelley) $10,000 to abort their baby because it had acleft lip and palate, a brain cyst, and an abnormal heart. When Crystal refused, the couple's lawyer sent a demand letter insisting that she abort the baby, along with the financial incentive. The attorney also said the couple would give up custody to the state if the childwere born. 

Crystal didn't want the child going to state care, so she moved to Michigan, where surrogates are considered the children's legal parents. She then found adoptiveparents, to whom she gave the baby shortly after birth.

Some argue that Crystal's rights over her own body trump the rights of the legal parents: "If we have any pretensions about defending a woman'sright to choose, then we must defend that right even when, likeKelley, she chooses to change her mind."

Another commentator disagreed, arguing that the parents' legal rights trump any concerns ofthe surrogate: "It seems absurd to make demands on the parents andto further those demands by claiming emotional attachment to the child youare carrying." 

Crystal herself says that she stands by her decision and ishappy the child has lived, despite its disabilities.