A surrogate mom who refuses forced abortion has filed a lawsuit in California against the birth father of the triplets she is carrying. The surrogate mother Melissa Cook has accused the biological father, identified only in the court papers as "CM" from Georgia, of forcing her to abort one of the triplets she is pregnant with.
According to a report from the New York Post, Cook also accuses CM of threatening her of financial penalty for not aborting one of the fetuses which is part of her contract. The said contract allows the father to have one of the babies aborted. The surrogate mother was paid $33,000 for one child and $6,000 for each of the additional babies.
"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," Cook's attorney Harold Cassidy said of the contract. "The surrogacy contract in this case and the California Surrogacy Enabling Statute will not withstand constitutional scrutiny," Cassidy continued.
The biological father's attorney Robert Walmsley explains that CM requested Cook to abort one of the triplets she is carrying because of a doctor's health recommendation. He also claims that the father did not threaten her at all with any financial penalty.
CM's lawyer also goes to explain that the father is still paying for the surrogate mother's medical bills and that he is just a victim of anti-surrogacy advocates. The biological father is also seeking to get parental rights over all of the babies.
The surrogate mom who refuses forced abortion released a statement to People about her views on surrogacy, "I now think that the basic concept of surrogacy arrangements must be re-examined, scrutinized, and reconsidered."
