Threat to Third World Women Cited : ACLU to Help Surrogate Mom in Custody Fight

The American Civil Liberties Union, worried that the rights of poverty-stricken Third World women may be “crudely manipulated” in surrogate mother contracts, said Thursday it will provide legal support to an illegal immigrant from Mexico who last year bore a child for her second cousin, who lives in Chula Vista.

Alejandra Munoz, 21, from a small town outside Mazatlan, Mexico, who speaks only Spanish and has a third-grade education, has been temporarily barred from seeing 11-month-old Lydia Michelle Haro because of concerns that a joint custody arrangement--and the tensions that have ensued--has caused the child adjustment problems.

While the custody matter will be the focus of a Superior Court hearing next Friday, the ACLU says it is becoming involved because of the larger question about the rights of Third World surrogate mothers.

Growing Temptation

The ACLU is worried by what it sees as the growing temptation of American couples, unable to conceive children, to travel to Mexico and Central America to offer young women relatively small amounts of money to bear children.

“For a fairly minimal amount of money, say $2,000, which is a king’s ransom to a poverty stricken woman from the interior of Mexico or Honduras, the specter is raised of crude manipulation of the fundamental rights of these women. That’s the larger issue raised by this case,” said Gregory Marshall, legal director of the ACLU office in San Diego. He said the ACLU has no idea how widespread the practice might be.

The Munoz case dates back to 1985. That’s when an aunt of Munoz and Natty Haro, a 37-year-old bank employee and Munoz’s second cousin, suggested that Munoz serve as a surrogate mother for her cousin and her cousin’s husband, Mario Haro, a 33-year-old high school math and science teacher.

Munoz, after journeying to Tijuana, was brought across the border to live with the Haros. After moving in, she artificially inseminated herself with Mario Haro’s sperm and eventually gave birth to Lydia Michelle last June 25.

No one disputes those facts; it’s the promises made and allegedly broken that finally led to Munoz suing the Haros to regain custody of the child.

Claims She Was Misled

Munoz claimed she was misled by the Haros and her aunt into agreeing to serve as a surrogate. She contended she was told her fertilized ovum would be transferred into Natty Haro’s womb in the early stages of pregnancy. When that didn’t happen, she said, she considered herself the mother of the child and wanted to keep custody of the baby.

Munoz said she was duped into signing a handwritten, two-sentence statement giving the Haros custody of the baby girl.

The Haros claimed that Munoz willingly agreed to bear a baby as a favor for the childless couple. They said Munoz pressured them into giving her money by threatening to abort the fetus and, later, to take the child away. Finally, Munoz agreed to have the child in return for $1,500.

In February, the custody case went to trial, with Munoz being represented by attorney Harvey Berman, who was working without a fee. After four days of trial, the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement with both the Haros and Munoz agreeing to share custody of the child.

Although the Haros maintained physical custody of Lydia Michelle, Munoz was allowed to visit the baby girl three to four times a week. The arrangement gave Munoz the right to take the child away overnight by the end of this year.

Last month, however, Marlene Allen, a lawyer representing the child, filed a motion with Superior Court Judge William Pate contending that the child was suffering emotionally from the shared custody arrangement. A pediatrician called the girl “abnormally passive.”

As a result, Munoz’s visitation rights were halted pending the outcome of next Friday’s hearing.

Marshall, of the ACLU, said that relatives of Munoz contacted his office asking for legal help. Munoz’s previous lawyer had dropped the case because of the long hours involved. “We decided to get involved in this case as of yesterday,” Marshall said, noting that the custody fight has drawn the interest of ACLU offices in Los Angeles and New York, which have offered to help.

Additionally, Marshall said, the case has caused great strain between relatives in the Munoz-Haro family.

“There has been a lot of scrutiny and recriminations,” he said.

Munoz’s lawsuit drew the attention of Harold Ezell, western regional commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In April, Ezell said he would personally make sure that Munoz, who faced deportation, would be allowed to stay in the United States while she fought for custody of the child.