A California the mother has claimed she was told to fire him substitute pregnancy at 24 weeks by the child’s future parents after they were diagnosed with breast cancer.
Brittney Pearson, 37, of Sacramento told DailyMail.com she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May at 22 weeks.
She says that after a full-body MRI revealed the extent of the disease, the gay couple who were paying her to carry their child used legal threats to pressure her to terminate the pregnancy.
Initially, Pearson says, doctors at Sutter Health Medical Center in Sacramento believed she could have a form of chemotherapy treatment compatible with pregnancy and then be induced at 34 weeks’ gestation.
The parents-to-be, who have not been named but are from Southern California, were reportedly happy for her to receive treatment and continue with the pregnancy.
Brittney Pearson, 37, of Sacramento told DailyMail.com that the boy’s expectant parents told her to terminate the surrogacy at 24 weeks after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Pearson claims gay couple paying her to carry child used legal threats to pressure her to terminate pregnancy
However, when doctors realized that the HER2+ cancer had spread further than expected and that more aggressive chemotherapy would be needed to fight it, relations between Pearson and the parents-to-be fell apart.
The anonymous gay couple, Pearson claims, wanted the baby “immediately exterminated” and “erased” because they believed it had no chance of life.
They did not want a baby born before 34 weeks because they allegedly feared the baby would have significant health problems, it is claimed.
The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, an anti-surrogacy group that first reported on Pearson’s case, says the prospective parents also tried to stop Pearson from carrying the child to term and then giving him up for adoption.
She is said to have been told that they did not want her ‘DNA’ to be raised by someone else. DailyMail.com was unable to contact the parents-to-be to verify this claim.
Pearson told DailyMail.com of the anguish she felt after the expectant parents allegedly “threatened everyone they could with a lawsuit,” including Pearson, her agency and Sutter Health.
At one point, he claims, his oncology team, after being threatened with legal action, said they weren’t sure they could give him chemotherapy and would have to consult their own lawyers.
“It was frustrating because I wanted to give them a family,” she told DailyMail.com, “He said they cared but they didn’t. I felt betrayed and heartbroken.’
Pearson’s sisters, Courtney and Ashley Pearson, set up a Go Fund Me page explaining the circumstances of Brittney’s diagnosis.
Pearson claims doctors at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Medical Center (pictured) were legally turned away by prospective parents.
Jennifer Lahl, president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (pictured: top left) said: “This case highlights many of the problems with contracted, largely commercial, pregnancy.”
The mother-of-four, who had successfully completed a round of surrogacy before, said she was left feeling like “a rented womb”.
“The first thing I thought after I was diagnosed was that I wanted to keep this baby safe and bring him to earth,” she said.
“I would have been there, I would have given him every chance of survival, I had people ready to help,” he said.
Pearson told DailyMail.com that she found a hospital that would deliver her baby, but did not say whether or not the procedure was induced or terminated, and whether or not the fetus was born alive.
She would only confirm that he has since died.
“The baby was born on Father’s Day, my mother held him and took pictures of him but he didn’t survive,” he explained.
Pearson was most upset by the parents-to-be’s decision to take the remains of the fetus and cremate them.
“He would have done things differently, he didn’t understand because they didn’t see him as a baby at all.”
Pearson said she is speaking out about her experience because she “never wants anyone else to feel that way.”
Despite her harrowing account, she hasn’t changed her mind about surrogacy: “I wouldn’t do it again, but I still think surrogacy is great, but [prospective] families must be examined a little more.”
Pearson said her surrogacy agency, which she did not want to name, was “very supportive and still is,” but the parents had not contacted her since she had the baby.
Jennifer Lahl, President of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network said the case: “I often say that there are many reasons to make people see how surrogacy is wrong, it’s harmful, and it’s bad for women and children.
“This case highlights many of the problems with contracted, largely commercial, pregnancy.”
Pearson, who has four children of her own, ages 3, 5, 12 and 13, is currently unable to work while receiving treatment.
His sisters Courtney and Ashley Pearson created one Go to the Fund Me page accepting donations to get her through this difficult time.
“Britt was recently diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer. Britt and her family need our love and support during this heartbreaking time,” the sisters wrote.
Adding: “She is the main provider for her family of 6 and is unable to work during her cancer treatments. Please help share this so they don’t have any added stress!”
Sutter Health declined to comment when approached by DailyMail.com.
Are you the parents-to-be? Please contact alice.wright@mailonline.com
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