One woman fights the legal system. 

While commercial surrogacy is illegal here in Australia, it’s increasingly popular in the US with surrogacy levels nearly doubling between 2004 and 2008.

A surrogate is paid a sum to be inseminated and carry the foetus. Once the child is born, the surrogate must hand the child to the parents. All legal elements tend to be set out in a contract.

However, as one woman found out, it isn’t always so simple. Jessica Allen was paid to be a surrogate to twins. However, in a strange occurrence, one of the babies was her own – and she didn’t even know until she gave birth.

Allen had been paid $US35,000 by Mrs Liu (name changed to protect identity) to carry the babies, Mike and Max. She gave birth in December 2016, and never got the chance to see the babies despite a clause written into the contract. It wasn’t until her mother brought her a photo that she finally got a glimpse of them.

Mike was Asian, just like Mrs Liu and her husband. Max appeared to be half-white and half African-American – the races of Allen and her partner.

It turned out, that in an extremely rare medical incident called “superfetation”, Allen had gotten pregnant naturally after the IVF cycle during which Mr and Mrs Liu’s embryo was implanted.

However, the Liu’s were still technically the legal parents of the child and they wanted nothing to do with him. The Liu’s handed the child back to the surrogacy agency and were expecting $US22,000 in compensation for the mishap.

Allen told The New York Post, “I told the agency in no uncertain terms, “We want our son,” but we would still be responsible for the bill if we kept him. It was like Max was a commodity and we were paying to adopt our own flesh and blood.”

And it gets worse – a case worker started lining up parents for adoption at the request of the Liu’s.

Allen and her partner fought for their son, but the blows just kept on coming. The caseworker was now asking for $US7,000 for expenses incurred for the administration and looking after the couples on.

Allen hired a lawyer, and managed to decrease the fee. On February 2017, Allen was finally able to take home her own child home. They renamed the child Malachi.

“The moment was incredibly emotional, and I started hugging and kissing my boy.”

When asked if she regretted the surrogacy she said:

“I don’t regret becoming a surrogate mum because that would mean regretting my son. I just hope other women considering surrogacy can learn from my story. And that a greater good will come out of this nightmare.”

 

This story originally appeared on The New York Post

 

Words by Kate Stevens