Abortion Clauses in Surrogacy Contracts: Insights from a Case Study
![handle is hein.journals/famlq49 and id is 37 raw text is:
Abortion Clauses in Surrogacy
Contracts: Insights from a Case Study
DEBORAH L. FORMAN*
I. Introduction
In March 2013, the controversial practice of surrogacy once again
made headlines. CNN reported that Crystal Kelley, a woman who had
contracted to act as a gestational surrogate carrier for an infertile couple,
had refused to terminate the pregnancy, as the intended parents had
requested.' The request came at the five-month mark, after repeated ultra-
sounds revealed that the fetus suffered from multiple birth defects includ-
ing a cleft palate, a brain cyst, and serious heart abnormalities that would
require multiple surgeries upon birth and leave the child with only a twen-
ty-five percent chance of having a normal life.2 The intended parents,
Stanislav and Vesselina Stoyanov, already had three special-needs chil-
dren and wanted to spare another child from suffering.3 Kelley, who
described herself as always against abortion, refused to terminate the
pregnancy.4
The intended parents responded by offering to increase the fee for
termination to $10,000 from the contractual amount of $2,000. Kelley
made a counteroffer of $15,000, which the intended parents rejected.5 At
* Professor of Law and J. Allen & Mary Schalling Cook Children's Law Scholar,
Whittier Law School. I would like to thank Dean Penelope Bryan and the Whittier Law School
for its support and Cassandra Hammon and Lacy Mickleburgh for their able research assistance.
1. Elizabeth Cohen, Surrogate Offered $10,000 to Abort Baby, CNN (Mar. 6, 2013),
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/health/surrogacy-kelley-legal-battle/index.html?hpt=hp-cI
[hereinafter Cohen]. A fictionalized version of the case also found its way into an episode of a
television show, The Good Wife: A Precious Commodity (CBS television broadcast, Oct. 13,
2013).
2. Cohen, supra note 1.
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. Id.; CRYSTAL KELLEY & ELISABETH COLLINS, FIRE WITIN: A SURROGATE'S JOURNEY
29](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/famlq49&div=8&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Abortion Clauses in Surrogacy Contracts: Insights from a Case Study
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most