Surrogate claims gay dads told her to terminate pregnancy at 24 weeks

Surrogate claims gay dads told her to terminate pregnancy at 24 weeks on finding out she had aggressive cancer and barred her from having baby prematurely or putting it up for adoption because ‘they didn’t want their DNA out there’

• Brittney Pearson, 37, told DailyMail.com that she was threatened with legal action by the prospective parents after receiving a  breast cancer diagnosis 
• The mother-of-four, from Sacramento, said she felt like ‘a rented-out uterus’

A California mother has claimed she was told to terminate her surrogate pregnancy at 24 weeks by the child’s prospective fathers after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  

Brittney Pearson, 37, from Sacramento told DailyMail.com that 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 into terminating the pregnancy. 

Initially, Pearson claims, doctors at Sutter Health Medical Centre in Sacramento, believed she would be able to have a form of chemotherapy treatment compatible with pregnancy, and would then be induced at 34 weeks gestation. 

The prospective fathers, who haven’t been named but are from Southern California, were allegedly happy for her to receive treatment and continue with the pregnancy. 

Brittney Pearson, 37, from Sacramento told DailyMail.com she was told to terminate her surrogate pregnancy at 24 weeks by the child’s prospective fathers after she was diagnosed with breast cancer

Pearson claims the gay couple who were paying her to carry their child used legal threats to pressure her into terminating the pregnancy

However, when medics realized the HER2+ cancer had spread further than expected and that more aggressive chemo would be needed to combat it, relations between Pearson and the prospective parents broke down.

The unnamed gay couple, Pearson claims, wanted the baby ‘immediately terminated’ and ‘erased’ as they believed it had no chance at life.

They did not want a baby born before 34 weeks because they allegedly feared the infant would have considerable health problems, it is claimed. 

The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, an anti-surrogacy group which first reported on Pearson’s case, claims the prospective fathers also sought to bar Pearson from carrying the child to term, then giving it up for adoption. 

They’re said to have told her that they didn’t want their ‘DNA out there’, being raised by someone else. DailyMail.com has been unable to contact the prospective dads to verify that claim.  

Pearson told DailyMail.com of the distress she felt after the prospective fathers allegedly ‘threatened everyone they could with a lawsuit’ including Pearson, her agency and Sutter Health. 

At one point, she claims, her oncology team, after being threatened with legal action, said they were not sure they could give her chemo and would need to consult their own lawyers. 

‘It was frustrating because I wanted to give them a family’ she told DailyMail.com, ‘they 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 Sutter Health Medical Centre in Sacramento (pictured) came under legal fire from the 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 already successfully completed one round of surrogacy before, said she was left feeling like ‘a rented-out uterus’.

‘The first thing I thought after I was diagnosed was I want to keep this baby safe and bring it earthside’ she said.  

‘I would have been there, I would have given him every chance of survival , I had people ready to help’ she claimed. 

Pearson told DailyMail.com she found a hospital that would deliver her baby, but would not elaborate on whether or not the procedure was inducement or termination, and whether or not the fetus was born alive.

She would only confirm that it has since died. 

‘The baby was born on Father’s Day, my mother got to hold him and take pictures but he did not survive’ she explained. 

Pearson felt further upset by the prospective parents decision to take the fetus’ remains and cremate them. 

‘I would have done things differently, I didn’t understand it since 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 like this’. 

Despite her harrowing account she has not changed her mind about surrogacy: ‘I wouldn’t do it again, but I still think surrogacy has a great time and place but [prospective] families need to be screened a little more.’ 

Pearson said her surrogacy agency, who she did not want to name, were ‘very supportive and still are’ but that the fathers had not contacted her since she had the baby. 

Jennifer Lahl, president of The center for Bioethics and Culture Network said of the case: ‘I often say, there are plenty of reasons to get people to see how surrogacy is wrong, is harmful, and is bad for women and for children.  

‘This case highlights many of the problems with contracted, largely commercial, pregnancy.’  

Pearson, who has four of her own children 3, 5, 12 and 13 years-old, is currently unable to work while receiving treatment.

Her sisters Courtney and Ashley Pearson set up a Go Fund Me page to accept donations to see 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 that they won’t have any added stress!’ 

Sutter Health declined to comment when approached by DailyMail.com.  

Are you the prospective fathers? Please get in touch at [email protected]

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