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CNN Live At Daybreak
California Surrogate Mother Suing Parents For Unwanted Abortion
Aired August 13, 2001 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here is one of those stories that you hear about and you just shake your head. It is a lawsuit that many people are going to be talking about.
A surrogate mother in California is suing the parents of the twins she is carrying. She says she was ordered to abort one of the babies she is carrying.
Lauren Reynolds of CNN affiliate KGTV in San Diego has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HELEN BEASLEY, SURROGATE MOTHER: It wasn't supposed to be like this.
LAUREN REYNOLDS, KGTV REPORTER (voice-over): Helen Beasley never expected to be in the international spotlight. She simply expected to carry to term a healthy baby for a husband and wife who couldn't have one.
BEASLEY: But I entered into the contract and into the relationship for the sole purpose of helping this couple have a baby.
REYNOLDS: She met the couple, Charles Wheeler and Martha Berman, through a surrogacy Web site and agreed to carry a baby created from the husband's sperm and a donor's egg.
Wheeler and Berman are both attorneys living here in Berkeley, California with one son. Beasley says the relationship soured when she became pregnant with twins and refused to abort one of them after the 12th week.
BEASLEY: And they are changing their minds. They just wanted one baby.
THERESA ERICKSON, ATTORNEY: They have gone through a lot of work to create these babies, so they should accept the responsibility.
REYNOLDS: Under California law, Wheeler and Berman are the legal parents. Beasley is now suing them for breach of contract and to terminate their parental rights so another couple can adopt the babies. DIANE MICHELSON (ph), ATTORNEY: Charles and Martha consider this entire situation to be a private matter, which has no place in the media.
REYNOLDS: Through their attorney, Diane Michelson (ph), the couple issued a statement. They said they never abandoned the babies, that media coverage has been inaccurate and that they are intending to have another family adopt the twins.
MICHELSON: There has been and continues to be a fully qualified couple, who is ready, willing and able to immediately accept custody of these children by taking over the surrogacy contract.
REYNOLDS: That's news to Beasley and her attorney, Theresa Erickson, who watched a tape of the press conference. They say when they found the couple two months ago, the deal feel apart over money.
ERICKSON: Well, it as $80,000 plus her fee. So we are talking quite a bit of money.
REYNOLDS: Erickson says Wheeler and Berman wanted to be reimbursed for all of their costs.
ERICKSON: Which they have the money, they just felt that it wasn't right to be paying for these babies. I had gotten an e-mail that says, you know what, this couple is not going to work out. Basically they asked too many questions was the reason.
REYNOLDS: Beasley says what's most important is that the twins are healthy, and hundreds of couples from around the country are interested in adopting them.
BEASLEY: But it's nice to know that people care so much.
REYNOLDS: Who gets to decide where the twins should go is a matter for the courts.
(on camera): The case is expected to go before a family court judge here in San Diego sometime this week. The goal is to resolve the issue of parental rights before the twins are born.
I am Lauren Reynolds 10 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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