Twins Rejected, Surrogate Birth Mother Sues

A British surrogate mother who became pregnant with twins has sued a San Francisco couple, charging that they broke an agreement by rejecting both children after she refused to abort one of the fetuses.

Helen Beasley filed suit earlier this month in San Diego Superior Court alleging that the couple were angered to learn she is carrying twins and ordered her to abort one because they want only one child.

Beasley, 26, the single mother of a 7-year-old son, is searching for another couple to accept both babies because she cannot afford to raise them, according to the lawsuit. She is 24 weeks pregnant.

The couple, Charles Wheeler and Martha Berman, have asked Beasley to reimburse them $80,000 in expenses, saying she broke their contract. Wheeler and Berman, who are both attorneys, could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could Beasley.

The lawsuit says Beasley in February signed a “gestational surrogacy agreement” with the couple that was not facilitated by any surrogacy agency. The three had orally agreed that any abortion would occur before 12 weeks of gestation.

Beasley, a legal secretary, said she wanted to be a surrogate because she felt sorry for couples who could not have children. She found Wheeler and Berman last August on the Internet and they corresponded by e-mail.

The couple agreed to pay her about $20,000. They made an initial payment of $1,000.

In March, Beasley underwent in vitro fertilization in California. Using Wheeler’s sperm and eggs from a donor selected by the couple, she became pregnant.

Seven weeks later, Beasley learned she would be having twins and attempted to contact the couple, who were vacationing, according to the lawsuit.

She later received several e-mails from the couple saying she was in breach of their contract for failing to contact them regarding the pregnancy. They also ordered that she abort one of the fetuses, the suit added.

A lawyer representing the couple contacted Beasley and said she would have to find another couple to take the children if she did not follow through with the abortion. Berman “not only did not want a male child, she also believes she had made a wrong decision creating the twins and now wanted to get out of the mess that she was in,” the suit said.

Theresa Erickson, the San Diego attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Beasley, did not return telephone calls Friday.

The lawsuit claims breach of contract and misrepresentation. It seeks unspecified damages “due to the resulting financial strain this pregnancy has put on” Beasley.

Beasley wants to give birth in California so that the San Francisco couple will have legal responsibility for the children.

She arrived in San Diego last weekend.

Shirley Vager, director of the Organization of Parents through Surrogacy, a nonprofit group that represents both parents and surrogate mothers, said the case is unusual.

“This was a do-it-yourself surrogacy where a couple pulled a surrogate mother off the Internet,” she said. “It’s very unusual and unfortunately it gives a black eye to those of us who do the process thoughtfully.”

Of 20,000 surrogacy births in the the United States last year, fewer than a dozen resulted in a couple refusing the baby or a surrogate mother refusing to give up a child, Vager said.