Hellobee Boards

@BelugaBean: really interesting! With this situation, I have no idea how I feel about it! I hope others chime in so we can hear their thoughts. All together, it's a sad story.

I read this yesterday and was very sad for all involved. I can see both sides of the issue, and it just seems like a big mess.

I think the parents are disgusting, I can't imagine treating someone like that who's carrying my child, there are many other options those parents had if they disagreed with their surrogates choice other than to become bullies.

I'm pro-choice for a woman's body and that includes even if someone else pays you to be a surrogate.

What I think is the worst part of this situation, is that since the biological parents (Really just the father) is still in contact with the adoptive family. What if this child refeats the odds, and is able to live a happy life?! She goes back and sees this article, what will she think of her biological parents then?....Just sad..

Oh man, what a horrible story. Of course we don't know all the details, but I have to side with the parents honestly. As tough as it was to find out the baby had such horrible health problems and make the decision to have an abortion - they also had to deal with a surrogate who violated her contract and put them through even more pain and suffering.

I don't think anyone should become a surrogate who isn't prepared to have an abortion if there are severe birth defects discovered and that's what the parents decide. If you are pro-life, you should at least be upfront about that when signing the contract and make sure you're paired up with pro-life parents. In this case I don't think the surrogate gave it enough thought ahead of time and just signed quickly because she needed the money.

I read the article last night and I was torn, but ultimately sided with the surrogate not have the elective abortion. The bio parents should have had to relinquish their parental rights. The adoptive family is very generous allowing the bio dad contaxt with their daughter.

I don't fault the bio family for wanting to terminate the pregnancy.or saying they did not want to raise their daughter. The situation is just so.much.more complicated by using spmeone else's.womb. Scary to think what a judge would have decided if it went to trial and the validity of the contract was on trial. Forced abortions are not good for society.

I definitely can see both sides of this, and feel like it was a terrible situation for all involved. As a lawyer, what jumps out at me is that you need a surrogacy agreement that is drafted with more specificity! I understand that all possible contingencies can't be planned for, but perhaps an agreement as to the time that an abortion could be performed (i.e., not after 13 weeks), and specific medical problems that would trigger an obligation to terminate. Then, like @blackbird: said, at least you could be more assured that the matched parties shared the same values.

Hard to see the photo of the baby and say she should have been aborted. I'm glad she found parents who love her for who she is.

I just heard the surrogate answer questions on BBC's "World Have Your Say" program while on my lunch break. She sounded like a reasonable woman who was just trying to do the right thing. I feel for her to be in that position and make a tough choice like that. To you point @Revel: they were saying how there really should have been more details in the surrogacy agreement up front.

From what I gathered from the article, "Kelley" signed a contract with a termination clause. Seems to me like she was in breach of that contract. Then she turns around and tries to extort money from this couple in order to follow through with the termination. Someone who is adamantly against abortion, wouldn't have one under any circumstances but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Clearly $15K was her magic number.

I agree that it's a sad situation all around and I'm glad that it somewhat worked out in the end but I personally side with the biological parents/father.

I just read this last night-- it's a such a sad story all around. But I agree that the start of the problem was with such a vague abortion clause. It sounds like both parties knew more specifically where they stood on the issue before they even got involved, so if they had spelled it out more the whole situation could have been avoided. It also does sound like the surrogate was a little desperate for cash and maybe would have glossed over her real feelings, assuming it was unlikely to come up anyway.

I can really see both sides to the story, and I think both sides were not as forthcoming as they should have been for something so incredibly personal.

I thought the whole pro-choice argument was that women should have control over their own bodies. The fetus was still a part of her body whether it was conceived by sex, IVF, or a turkey baster--a donor's sperm or her boyfriend's, it doesn't matter. It's her body.

If the parents didn't want to raise a child who had medical issues, whatever...that's their choice. Give up your parental rights and let the surrogate make the choices for the child. End of story. But to fight for parental rights just so you can hand the baby over to the state? That's just cruel. There was no reason for this situation to become litigious.

@blackbird: you'd think so! right?