THIS STORY WILL BREAK YOUR HEART

This story is insane! That's all I have to say! So, apparently, Crystal Kelley was five months pregnant as a surrogate mother for one Connecticut couple, who made a really agonizing request that they'd pay her $10,000 more if she aborted the baby. That's right! It turns out; an ultrasound a year ago revealed that the little girl would be born with special needs and would likely require numerous heart surgeries. 29-year-old Kelley decided to go against the parents' wishes and take the child in an unusual and complex case that has raised the questions about what is legally and ethically expected in surrogacy agreements. 

Kelley, who is a single unemployed mother, said that she would have had the abortion if the couple, who was never identified, would've paid more than the $10,000 they offered. Initially, Kelley was to receive $22,000 to carry the child. Kelley explained that in a weak moment, she told the surrogacy agency to ask for $15,000 and she would consider going forward with the termination. A woman at the agency painted a picture of a life of a person who had a child with special needs and it wasn't a pretty one, where her own children would suffer and so would her finances. The couple ended up rejecting the counteroffer, but then she decided that she would not have the procedure anyway. 

Last February, an attorney for the couple told Kelley that by contract, she was obligated to terminate the pregnancy immediately because she signed a contract that said she would have an abortion "in case of a severe fetus abnormality." The contractual meaning of "abnormality" was never defined. After Kelley's attorney said that she would not be aborting, the couple changed their course saying that they would take custody of the child after she was born, but then put her up for adoption. Kelley's attorney, however, said that she did not want the child to end up in foster care. Last April, Kelley fled to Michigan, a state that doesn't recognize surrogacy contracts. The state is also home to C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, where the baby could be treated at a top pediatric heart facility. Kelley was insistent about finding parents who were better suited for the job of raising the baby and she found a Michigan couple, who had a special-needs child of their own, and they wanted to adopt the baby. Kelley gave birth to the baby last June, and the battle began for the baby's parents to get her back. 

 Court papers revealed that the parents had used an anonymous egg donor, which meant the mom wasn't genetically related to the baby. That allowed Kelley's name to go on the birth certificate as the mother. At the end of the day, Kelley is back in Connecticut with her own family, and the baby she gave birth to is with a loving family in Michigan. It all worked out in the end, but the thing that I really found disturbing was that the couple from Connecticut really wanted Kelley to abort the child after five months? That is just sick!