SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A California couple is being sued by a 26-year-old British woman who they contracted to be a surrogate mother. Charles Wheeler and Martha Berman agreed to pay $20,000 to Helen Beasley, if she agreed to be implanted with embryos, created, according to the BBC, with ova from a donor selected by the couple and sperm donated by Wheeler. However, according to Beasley’s suit, the couple backed out of the deal when they found out she was carrying twins rather than a single child.
Weeks later, the couple contacted the mother telling her they had arranged an appointment to have the second child aborted in San Diego. The abortion of any extra children who survived beyond implantation was agreed in the contract. However, Beasley refused the abortion saying the child – at 13 weeks gestation – was too far along for the abortion not to cause risk to herself and the other child.
AP reports that Beasley was contacted by the couples’ lawyer who threatened to sue her for breach of contract. According to the suit, the lawyer told Beasley to get the abortion or “find another couple to assign her agreement to” because the couple were “no longer interested in accepting the children.”
The BBC reports that Beasley, who is due to give birth in November, wants to put the twins up for adoption but under California law she cannot since parental rights in a surrogate birth are granted to the intended parents. Thus, she has filed suit in Family Court in San Diego to clear the way for the unborn babies to be put up for adoption.
See related coverage: https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1485000/1485494.stm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010810/aponline181420_000.htm https://www.uniontrib.com/news/metro/20010811-9999_1n11surrogat.html