Fetus’s Origin Is Conceded in Surrogate Case

In a surprise reversal, the attorney for surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson said Tuesday that he is willing to agree that Johnson’s unborn baby was conceived from the egg and sperm of the infertile couple who hired her to bear their child.

Last week, Richard C. Gilbert had said that until he got medical proof, he would not concede that Johnson’s child was genetically related to Mark and Crispina Calvert and that he would not rule out the possibility that Johnson had become pregnant through a sexual union rather than by means of the January laboratory procedure that placed the Calverts’ embryo in her womb.

But Tuesday, Gilbert said he will not dispute the origin of the fetus, which is due to be born next month.

“I’ll acknowledge for the time being that Mr. Calvert donated the sperm, Mrs. Calvert donated the egg, that they were united and implanted into Anna and that the resulting embryo came from that procedure,” he said.

Gilbert reserved the right to change his position again later if genetic tests show that the baby grew from Johnson’s own egg, not the Calverts’.

The Calverts’ attorney, Robert Walmsley, immediately branded Gilbert’s switch “backpedaling” and said he believes that Gilbert knows that Johnson is carrying the Calverts’ child.

Walmsley said he thinks that Gilbert shifted his position “because he knows he’ll lose” in his fight to oppose DNA tests on the infant at birth to establish parentage.

But Gilbert chalked it up to strategy, saying he is simply trying to reduce pressure on Johnson for immediate blood tests.

Gilbert said acknowledging the Calverts as the sperm and egg donors does not weaken his argument that Johnson is also a parent of the baby and deserves custody.

Gilbert has argued from the beginning that it takes more than sperm and egg to make someone a parent and that Johnson is as much a parent as the Calverts by virtue of her carrying the fetus.

Johnson, 29, agreed to bear the Calverts’ child for $10,000.

In another development Tuesday, the unborn child’s court-appointed attorney obtained a court order restricting who may take--and profit from--photographs of the baby.

The order, obtained by attorney Harold F. LaFlamme, is designed to prevent exploitation of the child. It requires Johnson, the Calverts and their attorneys to shield the child from news cameras. They are also required to place any money earned from publicity into a trust fund for the baby.

Walmsley said the Calverts have received no money for discussing the case on the talk-show and publishing circuits. Gilbert said the only money Johnson has received was about $4,400 from “The Phil Donahue Show” to pay off her debt in a welfare-fraud case. Both sides say they have turned down offers from the National Enquirer tabloid.