'Dad' demands surrogate mum aborts baby after learning she was having triplets
A MAN who paid a surrogate to have his baby became overwhelmed when she told him she was carrying triplets - and demanded she abort one.
The dad threatened Melissa Cook with financial ruin unless she go through with his demands.
She told the New York Post: “They are human beings. I bonded with these kids. This is just not right.”
The babies’ dad, a man from Georgia, hired California-based Melissa for $33,000 (£21,907) to have a child by IVF using his sperm and a 20-year-old donor’s eggs
Melissa was implanted with three embryos, which beat all odds to go on and develop normally.
The 47-year-old and the biological dad learned she was having triplets at around eight or nine weeks, and he has been raising increasingly threatening concerns since.
The mum-of-four, who has her own set of triplets, is now 17-weeks pregnant - and California law states fetuses can’t be aborted after 20 weeks.
The dad sent a lawyer’s letter to Melissa on Friday warning if she “refuses to abide by the terms of agreement” she risks “loss of all benefits under the agreement, damages in relation to future care of the children [and] medical costs associated with any extraordinary care the children may need”.
She received a second letter on Friday urging her to schedule a “selection reduction” before the end of the day.
Melissa argued in an emotional letter to the dad, who she has never met: “The doctor put in three healthy embryos. The chances were high they were all going to take. You knew I was 47 years old. If you knew you only wanted two babies, then why put in three embryos?”
According to her contract, Melissa is entitled to her $33,000 pregnancy, plus an extra $6,000 (£3,982) for each additional child.
Due to the immense pressure being placed on her, Melissa is now debating whether to keep all three babies or go ahead with the abortion.
She said: “I have to reduce. I’m scared. I don’t want to suffer.”
Warmsley, the dad’s lawyer, declined to comment.
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